It is important to know what certification means. Mostly, certification is just a way for the certifier to make money off of the unsuspecting purchasing. Certification in this or that is big business. But in most cases, certification of proficiency is not easily possible. This is why the folks in the Chemical Process Safety field have not yet authorized or approved any “international certification” for PHA/HAZOP leadership. With that said many companies request that their staff be “independently” certified. So, what do we do? We have the best reputation in the industry (since we have done more training (7,000+ graduates in PHA/HAZOP), and done more PHAs/HAZOPs (+10,000 unit-wide analyses). So, at PII we offer the following:

  • Graduates of the 4 or 5-day course are awarded a “Certificate of Completion” of the training. After 4 or 5 days, the instructor will have a decent feeling (judgment) on if someone can progress to “proficient” within a reasonable period of time. But, after leaving class, a lot of practice is needed. The same is true of college degrees. When finished, the university certifies you have completed the curriculum to say be a “Chemical Engineer”. But what does that mean? It means he or she is capable of learning how to do useful things, such as design a part of a process or learn how to manage a project. But upon graduate, the individual is not a “proficient” engineer. Proficiency can only be determined by watching someone while they do the assignments and then coaching them through the weaknesses observed; only an expert can serve in the coaching/watching role. Class-time has a lot of practice time (70%), but that is Not enough time to make a judgment on proficiency for something as large as a PHA/HAZOP.
  • Of the 7000+ folks we have trained, we have certified about 150 to be proficient. How did we do that? We watched them as the prepared for an actual PHA/HAZOP, then watched and coached them during leading, then watched and coached them during documentation. This normally takes 1 or 2 additional weeks of observations. If you do not have someone within your organization who is qualified to do this coaching, then it is best to bring someone in to coach you through a major PHA/HAZOP; normally takes 1-2 weeks of consulting effort.