The bridge link between university and industry: A key factor for achieving high performance in process safety

•The article carries out an evaluation of the performance of process safety engineers.•Number/severity of incidents have not decreased, despite the educational efforts.•A rearrangement of the university/industry relationship is proposed.

Process safety has undergone a tremendous growth over the last decades, both in terms of required competencies and in terms of market demand. Although its cultural background mainly consists of the traditional subjects of chemical and process engineering, a multifaceted range of expertise has made it autonomous and different from the general chemical engineering frame: the interdisciplinary degree is much wider, the relevant regulations and standards have become so stringent and specific to become a key driver for the scientific and technical development of the discipline, its current growth trend is probably incomparable to others, role and functions of process safety engineers have acquired more significances and implications in the industrial scenario. This article considers the learning lessons of a long tutoring and teaching activity that the author has carried out in process safety between university and industry in Europe and in Asia. The findings have been analysed and converted into specific indicators and trend data, with the aim to contribute to reduce the significant gap which still exists in a branch of chemical engineering that is expected to increase its complexity and importance in the near future.