Process Safety Engineer

Are you the kind of person who is always thinking, sketching, seeking, and adjusting? Who needs to understand how things work and then figure out how they can work better? Are you a passionate, tenacious solver who loves to work with others who share your drive? Are you positive, constructive, and ingenious?

Are you always solving? Then we’d like to meet you and bet you’d like to meet us.

Ashland has an exciting opportunity for a Process Safety Engineer to join our team at Ashland LLC in Hopewell, VA. This is a highly visible, significant role within the Company and the EHS&S function. This position will report to the EHS Center of Excellence (COE).

The responsibilities of the position include, but are not limited to, the following:

• Provide transformational leadership to foster management commitment and employee ownership of process safety, enhance site process safety culture and performance, and ensure timely closure of corrective actions through risk assessment and data-driven collaboration.
• Analyze process safety data and partner with site leadership to develop and implement process safety improvement strategies.
• Providing subject matter expertise and technical support in the areas of process safety and its implementation to ensure regulatory compliance and operational excellence (PHA/LOPA, facility siting, combustible dust hazard management, effective corrective active closure, incident investigations, consequence modeling, etc.)
• Apply effective problem-solving and decision-making by developing multiple solutions and making well-informed recommendations to improve process safety outcomes.
• Coordinate and deliver mandatory process safety training and additional sessions tailored to meet specific site needs, including clear communication of process safety program elements to all organizational levels (operations, engineers, and site management)
• Lead process hazard analysis (PHA), combustible dust assessment (CDA/DHA), and risk assessments (LOPA) to ensure process hazards are identified and adequately and effectively mitigated in order to meet company risk criteria.
• Maintain site self-assessment protocols for the process safety program and participate in process safety compliance audits.
• Partner with global EHS and Engineering to provide process safety support for capital projects at the site.
• Review, revise, and update site process safety procedures and standards to maintain regulatory compliance and align with corporate standards, promoting continuous improvement and operational excellence.

What This Role Is Not

• Not an entry-level position – we need a candidate to hit the ground running with solid experience and a background to prove it
• Not an office-based role – You will spend a significant portion of your time in the field in a chemical manufacturing facility
• Not a management position – while you will collaborate with other team members, this is an individual contributor role with no direct reports

In order to be qualified for this role, you must possess the following:

• Bachelor of Science (BS) degree in chemical engineering or other relevant science/engineering degree
• Minimum 7 years’ experience in the process safety field within an industrial or manufacturing setting, including chemical manufacturing
• Working knowledge of OSHA PSM and EPA RMP regulatory requirements and RAGAGEP (e.g. API, NFPA, etc.)
• Subject matter expertise in risk-based process safety management systems and experience implementing PSM in a chemical manufacturing setting
• Demonstrated experience leading PHAs using LOPA, DHAs, and MOCs, developing and maintaining PSI, developing and maintaining procedures and training materials, and incident investigation
• Ability to manage multiple priorities under pressure and quickly adapt to shifting demands
• Excellent verbal / written communication (English) and interpersonal skills, particularly influencing without authority
• Proficiency with Microsoft Office suite (Word, Excel, PowerPoint) and EHS management software, such as VelocityEHS

The following skill sets are preferred by the business unit:

• Experience with combustible dust
• Proficiency with PHA Software, such as PHA Pro or Sphera ARA
• Working knowledge in…