r/ChemicalEngineering • u/West-Wash4301 • Jul 30 '25
Career Advice Is Chemical Engineering dangerous?
Hi I currently am a high school student and planned to study chemical engineering. It sounds fun to me since I'm good at science and math and like chemistry very much. However I've seen many news talking about the incidents happened around the world on chemical engineers such as explosion in the plant and poisoning in chemicals, they look so dangerous and I can't be sure anymore whether I would go on in this industry... do you think I can still learn it or not?? Thank you for your advices.
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Jul 30 '25
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u/West-Wash4301 Jul 30 '25
banking? I thought chemical engineering has nothing to do with this one, wouldn't they require a relative degrees to work in a bank?
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u/mykel_0717 Jul 31 '25
Aside from what the guy below has already mentioned, in my country I've seen job opening from banks for Renewable Energy consultants. Investing in RE and RE adjacent tech is all the rage now and banks want to know which companies are worth investing in. ChEs can do that.
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u/Understood_The_Ass Jul 30 '25
By far the highest risk in Chemical Engineering is driving to and from work.
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u/One-More-User-Name Petrochemicals/30 years Aug 01 '25
In all seriousness, this person is correct. Our goal as engineers is to keep accidents from happening because we do design, build, and operate processes that contain hazardous chemicals and operate at hazardous conditions. All of us in the industry want to go home safely at the end of the day. I worry far more about being injured or killed in my daily drive to and from work.
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u/Lazy-Pressure1316 Jul 30 '25
First and foremost, chemistry and chemical engineering are not the same. Just check out the youtube channel Chemical Engineering Guy. Chemical Engineers deal with a lot of physics and chemistry is a part of it.
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u/Half_Canadian Jul 30 '25
You’re statistically more likely to die in a car crash driving to your job than at your actual chemical plant. Chemical engineers surprisingly work in a very safe industry, but it’s the major events that grab the headlines
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u/Summerjynx manufacturing | 15 YOE | mom Jul 30 '25
Yes, there are hazardous chemical reactions, but there should be processes, personal protective equipment, training, and engineering controls in place to mitigate. Explosions at plants are very rare. Your government agency (ex, OSHA if in the US) spells out the standards that plants need to follow for workplace safety.
It’s likely that you, the engineer, won’t be directly interfacing with chemicals on a daily basis because that is the operator’s job. It’s your job to ensure processes are in place to prevent or safely contain runaway reactions (ex, order of additions are as safe as possible, the atmosphere should be insert, equipment should be functional upon startup, etc). For new processes or process changes, you will be involved in a team for safety and hazard reviews before the new process is implemented.
In short, there can be dangerous substances and processes, but there should be layers of review and safety measures to address the hazards. When you are interviewing or touring, ask about safety records and what they do to control hazardous processes. Major incidents should be rare.
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u/Ember_42 Jul 30 '25
All this, and as a process engineer, you would have more direct influence on the details of those safety measures than almost anyone else on site l, especially for the seniority level...
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u/belangp Jul 30 '25
Every segment of the chemicals industry has their own particular hazards. Some take better precautions than others. For example, I worked in the industrial gas industry and we were absolutely meticulous about mitigating risks (e.g. sharing best practices with other industrial gas companies, ensuring thorough training for all employees, lengthy hazops, management of change processes, daily pre-job safety reviews, etc.). I also got a chance to see practices in other industries. Some of them were good. Some of them were not so good. I think in general a company that takes safety very seriously is also a company that treats their employees well. So when you're ready to graduate college and start interviewing for jobs you should ask them what kind of hazards exist in their industry and what their safety culture is like. It will give you some valuable insight. But overall, I'll tell you that if you work for a company that takes safety seriously you will be at a lower level of risk while working at the job than you are in your vehicle driving back and forth from the job.
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u/wiseguy187 Jul 30 '25
Operators are in the line of fire you'll be in an office mostly doing unimportant things.
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u/Lucky-Succotash3251 Jul 30 '25
This is absolutely not true if you work in production.
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u/Lazz45 Steelmaking/2.5Y/Electrical Steel Annealing & Finishing Jul 30 '25
Depends on how they have it set up. My mill is union and we as engineers are literally not allowed to operate a lot of stuff. So what wiseguy said is quite true for many engineers in my mill
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u/Lucky-Succotash3251 Jul 30 '25
Yeah this will really be company dependent. I work in a small company and engineers are basically maintenance/operators/handymen in one.
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u/Lazz45 Steelmaking/2.5Y/Electrical Steel Annealing & Finishing Jul 30 '25
We "do" a lot of stuff we are not "allowed" to once we are cool with the operators and they realize we are just trying to help them out/fix things/improve how a product is running, but I can see other places being very strict with that and not allowing engineers to really interface much with units. There are engineers in my mill who are very office focused, while my co worker (whom I share an office with) and I wanna be out on the floor more and interacting with the hourly operators. Building a relationship with them and helping to break down that "salary" and "hourly" barrier
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u/wiseguy187 Jul 30 '25
Lol engineers aren't even allowed to touch things. What maybe a building walk through 2 times a week at most?
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u/riksauce Jul 30 '25
Maybe in your plant
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u/Lazz45 Steelmaking/2.5Y/Electrical Steel Annealing & Finishing Jul 30 '25
I think that is their point. Wiseguy made a statement that was anecdotal and not true across the board, lucky-succotash then did the same in reverse. Wise then replied explaining in their situation they are not allowed. Neither should have been speaking in absolute terms as its not absolute across the board
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u/Cyrlllc Jul 30 '25
Its not a very likely scenario you'll encounter and if so, you'll know what youre doing.
There are many types of chemical engineers too. The one you are thinking about is typically whats called a chemical process engineer.
In plants, you have operators working the equipment. Its a position usually not requiring a university degree. Your role would however be much broader and you essentially help maintain the plant long term. Its more or less a desk job with checking up on equipment making sure the plant runs safeky and efficiently.
Tgwt being said, a plant, especially a continuous one generally uses much higher pressures, temperatures and handles vast quantities of materials.
Industrial processes can tend to need very dangerous substances. Mostly because theyre designed that way and the substances play a key role.
Its not rare to see processes containing large amounts of toxic organic solvents, concentrated acids and bases, oxidizers, hydrogen gas etc.
You can in some very rare cases even have to deal with processes using oleum (really scary), chlorine gas (yikes) or even phosgene (absolutely horrifying). Bophal is a classic example of hpw wrong a phosgene proces can get if something goes wrong and the plant isbpoorly maintained.
Everything carries at least some risk in life. Chemists can expose themselves very easily but are trained for many years to work safely in a lab. Us engineers are trained too, in keeping a plant safe and ensuring that the proper safeguards are in place.
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u/Rational__Human Jul 31 '25 edited Jul 31 '25
Bhopal was a release of methyl isocyanate, not phosgene. It's a good tragedy to learn from since it is widely considered the worst industrial accident in history. Highly toxic and highly flammable chemicals are commonly used in petrochemicals and specialty chemicals plants. It's important to understand and respect the hazards they pose and to work hard to manage these risks. However, as others have noted, chemical processing is quite safe as a whole and the probability of being seriously injured or killed at work is lower than dying in a serious car accident.
I personally avoid working in plants that handle chemicals with known chronic/long term health effects such as ethylene oxide. I am less afraid of acute effects like inhalation hazards or explosion hazards because I know how to control them. Chronic health effects are the silent killer. Still a low relative risk but one that is harder to control and can easily be avoided.
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u/Cyrlllc Jul 31 '25
Youre right of course, it must vave been a bit too late when i wrote the comment. It was a phosgenation process but i should probably have clarified that it was the iso that was released.
It is fair though, to say that it is very unlikely to be killed while working at a plant. Incidents occur but most arent fatal.
It is quite special to work compounds like these. Its so easy to be desensitised when all you do is process design in front of a computer. I would personally also avoid working at these plants too, being a bit of a hypochondriac and all.
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u/West-Wash4301 Aug 01 '25
if working in a chemical industry result in chronic health issues, then would it be not suitable at all for someone with a weak constitution like me...?
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u/TechDifficulties99 Jul 30 '25
I work for a process safety company that does testing and consulting for other companies. Usually we look at worst case scenarios that have either already happen or have the potential to occur. Incidents are typically caused by small things that gradually became a much more significant issue. The best advice I can give you is that you ask questions about the safety culture at a company you’re interested in. Always be aware of yourself, what’s happening around you, and what could go wrong.
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u/CramponMyStyle Jul 30 '25
You're asking a great question and honestly, it's a question more people should ask before entering the field. Here's the short answer you're right, chemical engineering frequently involves hazardous environments. I started my career in high-hazard plants, and I saw both ends of the safety spectrum. Some sites had incredible safety cultures, where every hazard was anticipated, controlled, and openly discussed. Others… not so much and that’s where the real risk is. Funny enough I was also vehemently opposed to working in a high hazard environment, and it just so happened to be the only job offer I had at the time.
BUT this is something that motivates me with process safety. Chemical engineers are often the reason dangerous conditions become safe ones. We're trained to understand the physics and chemistry behind the risks, and more importantly, how to design systems and processes that prevent incidents from ever occurring. Whether it’s explosion prevention, proper ventilation, or fail-safes in automation. We are typically the ones behind it.
Process Safety Management (PSM) is a huge part of the profession, and unfortunately, it's sometimes neglected. But the engineers who lead can make a lasting difference in any industry they join.
So yes, it's smart to acknowledge the risk. But don't let fear be the reason you walk away. Let it be the reason you do the job well. And to end with, keep some of that fear because it can tell you when there are uncontrolled hazards. When you are at a plant with terrible safety culture and mgmt in place. For some, thats when the job gets started.
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u/Unearth1y_one Jul 30 '25
Yes it can be dangerous and typically there is no hazard pay.
Since graduating (~ 12 YOE) I've been:
- Sprayed by anhydrous ammonia / breath overtaken.
- Had acid bounce up out of a drum we were moving and splash into my mouth (luckily I had safety glasses on or I may have been blinded)
- Breathed in significant dusty material to the degree i was short of breath for several days.
- We had a stack burn down at one of the plants I worked at.
- We had scrubbers that were not designed properly and had clouds of acid frequently being dispersed.
- Witnessed a guy get sprayed by lye.
- Witnessed another guy contacted by 36% HCL.
- Two operators fell through the damn second floor grating at my plant because they did not properly barricade the area / man the area for warning after removing the grating to remove equipment below (life changing injuries).
- A guys foot was shattered for being run over by a forklift.
There's probably more but I can't recollect it all right now, so yes it can be dangerous. We try to do everything in our power to foresee safety concerns and mitigate them, but as the old adage goes : "shit happens".
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u/meahookr Jul 30 '25
Might be time to look for a place with a better safety culture. May I ask what industry you’re in?
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u/Unearth1y_one Jul 30 '25 edited Jul 30 '25
This is across three different plants.
One was food manufacturing. The other two were specialty chemicals
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u/Lazz45 Steelmaking/2.5Y/Electrical Steel Annealing & Finishing Jul 30 '25
These things happen in industry. Safety does their very best to prevent awful things from happening, but accidents do occur. We get safety bulletins company wide daily, and there are injuries country wide every, single, day. The reason they are not worse many of the times is due to people wearing correct PPE, following safety rules, and from guarding/procedure/automation improvements that have been made over time. Straight up, some industries are just more prone to accidents than other due to the nature of the material involved. Example, cuts are incredibly common in the steel industry. We wear cut resistant gloves, kevlar spats, kevlar overalls, and kevlar arm sleeves. People can still be cut through their gear and it does occur (ususally when someone does not follow the rules). You can discipline people for not following the rules, but it only takes a split second of bad decision making for something horrible to occur
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u/Frosty_Cloud_2888 Jul 30 '25
Sounds like you got silicosis, did you get a chest x ray? How do you decided to move an open barrel of acid by hand? The fork lift was down from running over that persons foot?
Safety culture where you work is horrible.
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u/Unearth1y_one Jul 30 '25
The barrel had a lance down into it and was on a pallet. It was nearly falling off the pallet, so I repositioned it on the pallet by hand. The acid inside splashed around and then up through the bund into my face. In hindsight it was not a good idea to move it without the cap on. I was young and fresh out of college.
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u/Frosty_Cloud_2888 Jul 30 '25
How did you get sprayed with ammonia? I was next to a rail car of it with a small leak and could barely breathe.
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u/Unearth1y_one Jul 30 '25
Some idiot I was walking around the plant with decided it was a good idea to walk up and open the valve that was open to atmosphere next to me.
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u/Ritterbruder2 Jul 30 '25
I would be more concerned about chronic exposure to toxic fumes than being involved in an accident. Also, not all positions are in plant operations.
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u/24-Toliver Jul 30 '25
If you really wanna know the behaviour of something at molecular level, choose it. It’s crazy deep.
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u/Avacadooooo Jul 30 '25
I have to climb tall ladders a lot at my internship and thats usually when i feel the most at risk of injury
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u/swolekinson Jul 30 '25
It can be dangerous, but we have ways of reducing the risk.
I am professionally concerned with the trajectory of reducing design teams to a design person. Projects might move slower with more brains, but more brains usually mean more expertise is brought to the table along the entire spectrum of the design process. In my experience, you can't be an expert on everything. You learn a lot from your colleagues, even when you might be the "most senior" person.
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u/Elrohwen Jul 30 '25
Depends on your industry. All manufacturing is dangerous to an extent, but I’ve worked in food and semiconductors and I’ve always felt totally safe following basic safety protocols. I also don’t work closely with chemicals and mostly work from a desk
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u/True-Firefighter-796 Jul 30 '25
Part of the job is to evaluate safety and make any necessary changes
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u/jerryvo Retired after 44 years Jul 30 '25
The biggest danger is driving to work because you are not in control of the surroundings and the people around you. It's the same in industry, but at least everyone is on the same page and being more responsible.
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u/dlm112901 Jul 30 '25
Everything in some shape or form can hurt you, and that is the mentality you should always have when in an environment like a plant. The level of hazard will vary based upon the nature of the process and product the plant is producing. However, you should approach every environment the same and that is with full blown skepticism until you yourself have confirmed you are not in the way of a hazard. Short story yes, but the industry and companies have strict safety rules that are constantly enforced to keep you “safe.”
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u/Eliot0 Jul 30 '25
I interned at a large pharmaceutical company that had a big sign in front of the campus that said "x days since a lost time accident" When I was interviewing for full time positions (at other companies) I asked one interviewer if they thought the job was dangerous, he burst out laughing. 15 years later I still cringe a little when I remember that I asked that.
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u/raverb4by Jul 31 '25
If you work on a high hazard site. It's definitely dangerous.
If your a design engineer in an office.. then a lot less dangerous.
Depends on the job you take!
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u/dirtgrub28 Jul 31 '25
i was in the army for 5 years and can safely say i've been much closer to dying working in a chemical plant.
it will depend heavily on the plant, company, and your role.
i'm in operations and have been exposed to phosgene 4-5 times, gotten acid in my eye, been gased out by PIH alcohols, have had to fight a literal chlorine fire...the list goes on. People saying "oh just follow PPE rules" probably don't know what really goes on in some plants or how incidents typically unfold. e.g. you could just be walking around the area and something could fail and now you're in the middle of something you're not prepared for. That said, if you're at a place where this stuff goes on, you can always go to a plant with less hazardous materials / practices etc...
people saying chemicals is less hazardous than other industrial places are also wrong imo. chemicals is one of the few industries where most of the raw materials, the products, and the process machinery can ALL hurt you. something like machining, the machinery can hurt you, but you hit the e-stop you're good. chemicals, you hit the "e-stop" and you may still have to deal with a release of a hazardous material, you may have to mitigate the process consequences of whatever you stopped etc....
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u/ferrouswolf2 Come to the food industry, we have cake 🍰 Jul 31 '25
Come to the food industry, everything we make is edible
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u/Downtown-Biela-3575 Oil Laboratory / 3 years Jul 31 '25
High temperature fluids, carcinogen solvents, flammable solvents, direct working with alkali or acids.
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u/Wonkel_ Aug 01 '25
My professor used to refer to an incident, such as an explosion, as the Swiss cheese model. Imagine taking a stick and trying to poke it through all the holes of a cheese and reaching the other side, it’s not that easy, you need to ensure that all the holes are lining up etc. Basically it is an analogy for an incident, meaning a lot of safety features need to go wrong/fail for an incident to occur.
As an engineer your goal is to put in all the safety precautions to ensure safe operations and if something does go wrong the operation will be shut down and the risk will be mitigated.
In short, when something goes wrong, it’s usually because a lot of things went wrong in succession.
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u/vixenine 27d ago
Being aware of the hazards of the site you'll be working in is of paramount importance.
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u/InsightJ15 Jul 30 '25
Yes it's dangerous but that's why safety precautions and procedures exist. There is always ways around each hazard to prevent each hazard inside a chemical plant.
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u/Illustrious_Mix_1724 Jul 30 '25
Not exactly but if you do work in a plant, you may be expected to climb tall ladders and do inspections inside of vessels (like inside distillation towers). That can be unsafe if you aren’t careful especially with PPE and chemical hazards.
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u/Lazz45 Steelmaking/2.5Y/Electrical Steel Annealing & Finishing Jul 30 '25
Realistically you are in proximity to hazardous materials. Follow all PPE and safety requirments and you should be fine. You are not the one literally standing there turning valves on a daily basis so your chances of being exposed to an industrial accident are not really all that high. No higher than any other type of industrial accident that could occur in other fields. I wouldn't get worked up over it, or go into safety and make things safer for people