Trevor Kletz facts for kids

Trevor Asher Kletz (born October 23, 1922 – died October 31, 2013) was a British expert who wrote many books about safety in chemical engineering. He was very important in creating the field of process safety, which is all about making industrial processes safe. He came up with the idea of "inherent safety" and strongly supported a method called Hazop. He is also listed in a special dictionary about Anglo-Jewish history.

Early Life and Learning

Trevor Kletz was born on October 23, 1922, in Darlington, England. His parents were Jewish immigrants from Russia. He went to The King's School, Chester. Later, he studied chemistry at the University of Liverpool. He graduated in 1944 and started working for ICI that same year. During World War II, he was part of the Home Guard. In 1958, he married Denise V. Winroope. They had two sons, Anthony and Nigel.

Working Life and Safety Ideas

In ICI, Trevor Kletz first worked as a research chemist. Then, he became a manager for different chemical plants. These included plants that made iso-octane, acetone, and tar acids. After gaining more experience, he became an assistant works manager in 1961. This was at the ICI Olefines Works near Wilton, Redcar and Cleveland. In 1968, he got a new job as the first Technical Safety Advisor.

During his time at ICI, a safety method called "hazard and operability studies" was created. This is now known as Hazop. Trevor Kletz was a big supporter of Hazop. He even wrote the first book about it.

When he retired in 1982, he had helped create a strong safety culture at ICI. This culture was based on good communication. After retiring, he started a new career. He became well-known around the world as an author and speaker. He was soon seen as a key person in developing process safety. He also called this field "loss prevention." Most of his books share real-life stories from the industry. They explain the human and technical reasons behind accidents. Soon after retiring, he wrote a book about "inherent safety." This book was based on his idea that "What you don't have, can't leak." This means if you don't have dangerous materials, they can't cause problems.

Awards and Recognitions

Trevor Kletz received many important awards. He was a Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering. He was also a Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry and the Institution of Chemical Engineers. The American Institute of Chemical Engineers also made him a Fellow. He received medals from the latter two groups.

He was a visiting professor at Loughborough University. He was also a professor at Texas A&M University in the chemical engineering department.

In 1997, he was given the OBE award. This award recognized his important work in making industries safer. In 2009, he received the Mond Award for Health and Safety. This was from the Society of Chemical Industry. They called him a "founding father" of safety in the chemical industry.

Books by Trevor Kletz

Trevor Kletz wrote many books about safety. Here are some of them:

• Cheaper, safer plants, or wealth and safety at work: notes on inherently safer and simpler plants (1984) IChemE ISBN: 0-85295-167-1
• Improving Chemical Engineering Practices: A New Look at Old Myths of the Chemical Industry (1989) Taylor & Francis, ISBN: 0-89116-929-6;
• Critical Aspects of Safety and Loss Prevention (1990) Butterworths ISBN: 978-0-408-04429-5;
• Plant Design for Safety – a user-friendly approach (1991) Taylor & Francis ISBN: 978-1-56032-068-5;
• Lessons from Disaster – How Organisations Have No Memory and Accidents Recur (1993) IChemE ISBN: 0-85295-307-0;
• Learning from Accidents (1994/2001) Butterworth-Heinemann ISBN: 0-7506-4883-X;
• Dispelling Chemical Engineering Myths (1996) Taylor & Francis, ISBN: 1-56032-438-4;
• Process Plants – a handbook for inherently safer design (1998) Taylor & Francis ISBN: 978-1-56032-619-9;
• What Went Wrong? Case Histories of Process Plant Disasters (1998) Gulf, ISBN: 0-88415-920-5;
• Hazop and Hazan 4th ed (1999) Taylor & Francis, ISBN: 0-85295-421-2;
• By Accident… a Life Preventing them in industry (2000) PFV, ISBN: 0-9538440-0-5;
• An Engineer's View of Human Error 3rd ed (2001) IChemE, ISBN: 0-85295-430-1;
• Still Going Wrong: Case Histories of Process Plant Disasters and How They Could Have Been Avoided (2003) Gulf, ISBN: 0-7506-7709-0
• What Went Wrong?: Case Histories of Process Plant Disasters and How They Could Have Been Avoided 5th ed (2009) Butterworth-Heinemann/IChemE ISBN: 1-85617-531-6;

Books Co-Authored by Trevor Kletz

He also wrote books with other authors:

• Trevor Kletz, Paul Chung, Eamon Broomfield and Chaim Shen-Orr (1995) Computer Control and Human Error IChemE, ISBN: 0-85295-362-3;
• Trevor Kletz, Paul Amyotte (2010) Process Plants: A Handbook for Inherently Safer Design 2nd ed, CRC Press ISBN: 1-4398-0455-9;

Images for kids

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  Kletz at a chemical engineering safety workshop, Manchester 2010