BP
AMOCO is part of a programme aimed at closing the trial safety gap
between developed and developing nations.
Led by IUPAC (International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry), it
promotes interaction, disseminates state-of-the-art techniques and encourages
accountability.
Esma Toprak on her recent US visit
|
In its role as a IUPAC company
associate, BP Amoco recently sponsored the visit to the US of an
IUPAC intern, Esma Toprak, chief chemical engineer
at
Bogazici University in Istanbul, Turkey. She visited BP Amoco sites
in Naperville, Illinois, and Green Lake, Texas, shadowing nitriles,
HSE and engineering groups during her two-week stay. The Naperville
and Green Lake sites were chosen to show her as aspects of HSE both
at the corporate, commercial and plant levels. |
Toprak was amazed by what she saw.
"We are really behind in safety and health in Turkey. We don't have
strict safety laws as you have here." She was especially impressed with
the safety manuals outside each laboratory door. Site safety councils
and emergency response teams were also new to her.
The fact that Turkey suffered
a devastating earthquake in August 1999 was never far from her mind.
"It was a horrible experience. It makes safety training that much more
important."
Upon her return home, Toprak will
reorganize the student laboratories to comply with international regulations
on safety, and will help her department review and supplement necessary
safety measures and required equipment. Toprak is also planning to teach
courses on safety to students in her department, as well as other departments
and institutions in Turkey.
Reproduced
from HORIZON . July 2000
> IUPAC Project 022/11/93
- IUPAC-UNESCO-UNIDO Fellowship
Program for Safety and Environmental Protection in Chemical, Biotechnological
and Pharmaceutical Production