Engineering safety and risk management: A structured case study approach to investigating chemical process safety

Abstract

Engineering leadership and management consider the organizational aspects of the development and operation of complex designs in a sustainable manner. Safety and risk management are key elements in sustainable design, operation, and management of engineering projects (Crowl & Louvar, 2019). Recognizing that a safety culture does not develop on its own, but is a product of management's intent and consistent reinforcement (Fleming et al., 2018; IAEA, 1986), case studies help students to understand and reflect on the leadership values and management beliefs that can lead to sustainability, inherently safer designs, and a supportive organizational culture. Using case studies to connect incident stories to engineering safety, culture, and risk management can help students examine the enacted values, underlying values, assumptions, and beliefs that may contribute to major incidents (Guldenmund, 2000; Kerin, 2018; Shallcross, 2013b). Further, the education of engineers as empowered leaders who understand the implications of their own underlying values, assumptions, and beliefs and their subsequent connection to the sustainable design and operation of complex systems enhances societal sustainability. This paper proposes a case study analysis structure developed to connect the role of the underlying values, ethics, assumptions, and beliefs of people who lead, manage, and work in complex engineering projects towards the enactment of a sustainability culture or a safety culture or both. The proposed case study structure reinforces engineering education outcomes, the United Nations sustainable development goals, and Risk Based Process Safety (RBPS) management in order to further develop technical and professional skills in undergraduate and graduate students better preparing them for their future roles in a world demanding sustainable solutions.