Why responsibility starts before a plant goes live.

In November 1986, a fire broke out at a chemical warehouse in Schweizerhalle, near Basel, Switzerland. During firefighting operations, contaminated water entered the Rhine, causing significant pollution downstream and damaging aquatic life. The incident became one of Europe’s most widely recognised industrial environmental accidents and prompted widespread discussion about safety and environmental responsibility within the chemical industry.

For many, Schweizerhalle highlighted how closely industrial operations and environmental protection are connected. It showed that seemingly small details, such as process settings, maintenance activities or communication during operations, can have wider consequences if risks are not properly understood and managed within the overall system. 

Sustainability is often associated with carbon reduction, energy transition or compliance targets. Important as these are, they’re only part of a much broader challenge.  

A plant’s environmental performance is shaped by the decisions embedded within its design, operation and maintenance – from the efficiency with which it uses energy and resources, to the movement of materials through the process, the control of emissions and waste, and the ability of the system to respond safely and reliably to changing conditions.

This is why sustainability shouldn’t be treated as something separate from engineering. It’s not a final layer to be added once a technical solution has already been defined. It’s part of the system itself.  

As Mohammad Masroor comments: “We all work in sectors where design decisions can influence environmental performance for decades. We also design processes which can be energy efficient – or not. So we always have a choice.”

That choice also applies to safety and risk. Industrial systems will always involve a degree of uncertainty, but good engineering reduces that risk through clear procedures, reliable safeguards, disciplined operation and designs that anticipate how a plant will behave in real conditions.  

Much of the environmental value created through process engineering is not immediately apparent. Nobody sees the emission that’s avoided, the energy that’s saved, the waste treatment that’s reduced or the risk that never becomes an incident. Yet this is where engineering can have its most meaningful impact.

The right solution is rarely universal. A technology that works well in one location may not be suitable in another. Access to infrastructure, transport routes, available energy sources, storage options and operational constraints all influence what is feasible.  

Process engineers help define how a system performs. They calculate how much energy a plant needs, identify where resources are consumed, assess where efficiencies can be improved and develop solutions that fit the specific process, site and client requirement. They can bring a unique combination of fresh thinking, built on deep experience, to every project.  

One of the greatest challenges in industrial sustainability is the gap between ambition and implementation. Companies may have clear sustainability targets, but on the ground, decisions are shaped by capital costs, operational continuity, timelines and expectations around profitability.  

As a result, sustainability needs to align with commercial reality. If it’s considered late, it often appears as an added cost – a retrofit, an additional system, a compliance requirement or a correction to an existing process. When it’s embedded from the outset, it becomes part of the design logic.

For process engineers, this means designing systems that use less energy, reduce waste, improve efficiency and minimise operational risk. A more efficient plant is not only better for the environment; it is also more cost-effective to run, delivering both environmental and commercial value.

Mohammad Masroor comments: “Sustainable engineering doesn’t ignore cost. It changes the way cost is understood.”

While the consequences at Schweizerhalle were high at the time, learnings from the event helped reshape the industry’s approach to environmental protection and operational safety. It reinforced the importance of decisions made long before a plant becomes operational, shifting the focus from damage control to designing systems capable of preventing harm in the first place.  

That same principle underpins our approach at BakerHicks. We embed sustainability and safety from the outset through early-stage questioning, technical calculations, risk assessments, sound process choices and the everyday decisions that ultimately determine how a plant will operate over time.

A process engineer may not see the environmental benefit directly at the end of the working day. But when a system uses less energy, treats waste more effectively, reduces emissions or operates with lower risk, the impact is real. It’s the combined architectural, design and engineering decisions that make all those sustainability commitments possible.  

Mohammad Masroor concludes: “Sustainability commitments are needed but the focus should be less on the promise and more on making things happen. It is about how systems are designed, how decisions are made and how responsibility is built into the work from the beginning.”