(516b) Student Incident Reporting As a Tool for Hazard Reductions in Unit Operations (UO) Laboratories

Instructors from seven universities have collaborated since 2017 to better understand the integration of process safety in the chemical engineering unit operations (UO) laboratories. Understanding of hazard analysis and risk assessment were identified as weak points in the undergraduate chemical engineering curriculum. These concepts align well with the chemical engineering laboratory learning outcomes. To perform risk assessment and hazard analysis in a laboratory setting, data on the frequency of incidence is necessary. However, there is a lack of data available for incident frequencies in a UO laboratory course setting. Therefore, a student-driven incident reporting tool was developed to collect these data based on actual student observations. In addition to allowing for risk assessment and hazard analysis, data that quantifies hazards and incident frequencies in the lab allows students, staff, and instructors to prioritize mitigation strategies and create a safer laboratory environment. Data was collected by four of the seven universities in academic years 2019-2020 and 2021-2022. This presentation will report the incident frequencies across these institutions and identify strategies for hazard reduction in unit operations laboratories.