Safety education 4.0-A critical review and a response to the process industry 4.0 need in chemical engineering curriculum

Safety education has found a place in the chemical engineering curriculum. However, its complete impact is yet to be realized. A part of this delay may be attributed to the gap between the concepts traditionally taught in engineering education and the tools required for the practice of engineering in the process industry. This gulf is only exacerbated by the advent of Industry 4.0, which relies heavily on emerging technologies, such as big data, automation, and machine learning. Therefore, a fundamental aspect that educators of process safety need to readdress is the following: "How can safety knowledge and competence among engineering graduates be enhanced for them to have a sustained impact on the safe design and operation of chemical processes during industrial practice?" In this context, the present work investigates the status of safety knowledge development and transfer from education to practice. A detailed analysis of demographic and temporal evaluation of safety education in specific engineering disciplines, and the shortcomings of the current curricula in imparting safety concepts to the students, are also discussed in detail. This perspective attempts to bridge the gap between ac-ademic training and the job requirements of process safety engineers through a concept titled 'Safety Education 4.0'. In the proposed Safety Education 4.0 methodology, academics and industry personnel collaborate in teaching students safety principles through project-based learning (PBL). The compact modular format of PBL makes it flexible to be updatable on-demand process safety education.