courses

Fundamentals of Process Safety – Water Sector

Location Reading, UK

Date 29th September 2025

Duration 5 days

Topic Process safety

Price IChemE member £2,520 + VAT / Non-member £2,835 + VAT

Online | Face-to-face | In-company

Overview

This course will help you to develop your understanding of the key principles of process safety and its management with a specific focus on the water sector. It will benefit anyone involved in the design, operation, modification or maintenance of major hazard or other process plant in the water sector, who would like to develop or refresh their process safety knowledge across a broad range of topics. 

The course uses a mix of interactive exercises and workshops, case studies and theory to examine the functional areas key to managing process safety across an organisation, as defined by the IChemE Safety Centre’s (ISC) framework: leadership, knowledge and competence, engineering and design, systems and procedures, assurance, human factors, and culture.

There will be an assessment at the end of the course. Following successful completion, you will receive an IChemE pass certificate in the Fundamentals of Process Safety in the Water Sector.

Course outline

  • The importance of process safety
  • A model for process safety
  • Hazard and risk
  • Hazard identification and evaluation
  • Consequences – toxicity and fires
  • Consequences – explosions
  • Chemical reactions
  • Flammable atmospheres
  • Project development
  • Design safety
  • Risk assessment
  • Operations
  • Asset integrity
  • Management of change
  • Management systems
  • Human factors
  • Leadership and culture
  • Process safety performance
  • Emergency response

Learning outcomes

By the end of the course, you will understand:

  • the key principles of process safety and its management
  • the human, environmental and business consequences of poor process safety
  • the key factors influencing the basis of process safety
  • the hazards associated with a process plant and how the risks can be controlled
  • the key process safety requirements at each stage in the life cycle of a process plant from conceptual design through to operation, maintenance and modification
  • the interdependence of and the need for overall organisation process safety management capability
  • how to acquire further knowledge and understanding of process safety management.

Who will benefit

  • Managers, supervisors, engineers, safety personnel, and others involved in the design, operation, modification or maintenance of major hazard or other process plant in the water sector
  • Anyone who would like to improve their process safety knowledge with a specific focus on the water sector
  • Graduates, chemical and other engineers may find it beneficial in the preparation of their Chartered Member application.

Trainers

Our expert trainers have a broad range of process industry experience and have worked in many sectors including utilities, oil and gas, offshore, refining, chemicals, pharmaceuticals, food processing, gas distribution, energy, power generation and in some case with government regulators. 

Upcoming courses

Online 

Online courses consist of four live and interactive modules with the trainer. There will also be some work to complete independently before the course and between the live sessions. More details will be provided after you have registered.

  • No scheduled dates

Face-to-face 

  • 29 September–3 October 2025, Reading, UK

Not available then?

Register your interest in alternative dates.

Fees 

Book any live online or face-to-face training course before 31 January 2025 and SAVE 20%! Simply use discount code EARLY20 at checkout. 

  • IChemE member – £2,520 + VAT
  • Non-member – £2,835 + VAT

Terms and conditions: offer applies to live online or face-to-face course bookings made between 2 December 2024 and 31 January 2025. Applies to both member and non-member prices but cannot be used in conjunction with any other offer eg multi-place discounts. Registration must be confirmed and paid by 31 January 2025.

How to register

Select your preferred course from the list of upcoming start dates and go to the 'Book course' button at the bottom of the page.

More than one person to train?

Multi-place discounts

Discounts are available to companies booking more than one place. Bookings must be made at the same time to receive the discount.

  • 2 places – 10% discount
  • 3 places –15% discount
  • 4 or more places – 20% discount

In-company training

This course can be delivered to in-house teams, either on-site or online. This could be a cost-effective option if you have several people requiring the training. Content can be tailored to your specific requirements. Request a quotation.

Attendance certificate and CPD hours

An e-certificate will be issued at the end of the course to confirm attendance and CPD hours logged. Please note that you must attend all modules to receive the certificate. 

CPD hours should be used as an approximate guide and will vary depending on the preferred approach of the delegate and to what extent additional learning is completed.

Contact Phone +44 (0)1788 534496

Contact Email courses@icheme.org

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Dr Ken Patterson

Trainer

Dr Ken Patterson

After a 10 year career as an industrial chemist with experience of both lab work and plant operation, Ken joined HSE in 1986 and became a Principal Specialist Inspector, dealing with process safety. He worked as a field inspector across the North of England and spent periods in HSE headquarters, in major hazards and operational research. He moved to Hickson & Welch in 1994, after the company’s major accident, as their Health and Safety Manager. In 2016, he retired from Synthomer, an international polymer group with manufacturing sites across the world, where he was Group Risk and SHE manager.

Ken was a member of the working group which wrote IChemE’s Fundamentals of Process Safety course and has taught the course many times. He chaired the working group which produced the revised third edition of the CIA’s Occupied Buildings guidance and was a member of the UK Chemical Weapons Convention Advisory Committee until his retirement. He has been involved in implementing IEC 61508 since the late 1990s and has taught IChemE's Layer of Protection Analysis course since his retirement. In 2011, he was awarded the Franklin Medal by IChemE for his work in process safety.

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