Research Topic
Evolving Safety Education around Technology Development in Industry 4.0
Chemical engineering education has been constantly evolving since its establishment back in the late 19th century. Novel and ground-breaking elements have been incorporated to nurture the engineers and scientists of the next generation. Among them, safety education has found a place in the chemical engineering curriculum following industrial disasters, such as Flixborough (1974), Bhopal (1984), and Deepwater Horizon (2010), that have deeply impacted communities and most importantly awakened people to recognize the importance of safety education. Yet the outcomes are not fully reflected in accidents prevention due to the gap between the engineering education and engineering practice. With the rapid development of digitalization alongside with Industry 4.0, “How to develop safety knowledge and competence among graduates that have positive impact on process design and operation under the current trend of digitalization?” becomes one of the key questions that needs addressing for the educators, industries, and government agencies. The research aims to integrate the latest technology development within Industry 4.0 into the current safety with improving graduates’ awareness and professional competency in process safety as the ultimate goal.
