About:

Mary Kay O’Connor

Process Safety Center

Chemicals play a key role in today’s high-tech world. The chemical industry is linked to every technologically advanced industry, and only a handful of the goods and services we enjoy on a daily basis would exist without essential chemical products. Furthermore, chemicals are a big business in Texas; where the state’s chemical complex is the largest in the world. The industry provides jobs for more than 85,000 Texans, and the state’s chemical products are shipped worldwide at a value of $15 billion dollars annually. The use of chemicals is a two-edged sword. Safe use creates a healthier economy and a higher standard of living. Unsafe use threatens our lives, our businesses and ultimately our world. For this reason, working and living safely with chemicals are the ultimate focus of the Mary Kay O’Connor Process Safety Center.

The Mary Kay O’Connor Process Safety Center was established in 1995 in memory of Mary Kay O’Connor, an Operations Superintendent killed in an explosion on October 23, 1989 at the Phillips Petroleum Complex in Pasadena, TX. Mary Kay O’Connor graduated from the University of Missouri-Columbia with a degree in Chemical Engineering and received a MBA from the University of Houston-Clear Lake.

The mission of the center is to embed safety as an integral part of industrial operations worldwide, with a focus on preventing future incidents. To achieve this, the center develops safer processes, equipment, procedures, and management strategies aimed at minimizing losses within the processing industry. Recognizing the need to advance process safety technologies to maintain industry competitiveness, the center actively innovates and evolves its approaches. It also serves as a collaborative platform for all stakeholders, providing a forum to foster dialogue and establish programs that revolutionize the paradigm of process safety. The center is funded through a combination of endowments, consortium contributions, and contract projects.

Dr. Faisal Khan currently serves as the Director of the Mary Kay O’Connor Process Safety Center. An accomplished expert in the field, Dr. Khan has authored over 500 research articles in peer-reviewed journals and conferences, focusing on safety, risk, and reliability engineering. He has also written five books on these topics. Dr. Khan is the Editor of several esteemed journals, including the Journal of Process Safety and Environmental Protection, Safety in Extreme Environments, and ASME Part A (Risk and Uncertainty Analysis). Additionally, he conducts training programs and workshops on safety and risk engineering in diverse locations, such as St. John’s, Chennai, Dubai, Beijing, Aberdeen, Cape Town, Doha, and Kuala Lumpur.