About
This awareness-level course provides engineers with a practical understanding of how refinery and petrochemical laboratories operate to ensure product quality, regulatory compliance, and safe plant performance. The curriculum covers LIMS functionality, measurement integrity, laboratory reporting, outsourcing, and complaint handling. Emphasis is placed on identifying common laboratory errors, interpreting technical reports, and understanding how laboratory output supports operational decision-making and dispute resolution. Engineers will also learn essential laboratory HSE practices, including hazard controls, emergency response, and proper waste management.
Target Audience
Process engineers, planning and economics engineers, inspection engineers, HSE engineers, laboratory managers and supervisors, turnaround planners, and operation supervisors.
You Will Learn
- Explain the role and value of chemical laboratories in ensuring product quality, regulatory compliance, and operational decision-making in refinery and petrochemical plants
- Recognize the importance of laboratory management, Good Laboratory Practices (GLP), and QA/QC systems, and assess their impact on process performance and product assurance
- Identify common laboratory errors, determine their root causes, and evaluate associated operational and commercial impacts
- Describe the purpose, structure, and benefits of Laboratory Information Management Systems (LIMS), including workflow functions, roles, selection criteria, and performance indicators
- Summarize key QA/QC standards and accreditation frameworks (e.g., ISO/IEC 17025, ASTM) and compare their requirements for laboratory competence and compliance
- Apply principles of test method execution, equipment calibration, verification, and performance testing to ensure accuracy, precision, and reliability of laboratory results
- Interpret laboratory reports—including uncertainty, conformity statements, and result qualifiers—and distinguish between test reports and Certificates of Analysis
- Evaluate outsourcing requirements under ISO/IEC 17025, including provider selection, shared responsibilities, and client rights
- Explain complaint management processes in laboratories and assess the responsibilities, workflows, and communication expectations for stakeholders
- Identify laboratory health, safety, and environmental (HSE) hazards, and apply controls, SOPs, emergency response, and waste-disposal procedures to maintain safe operations