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Abstract As engineering graduates transition from university to industry, they often encounter a two-year induction period known as the Theory-to-Practice gap. The Theory-to-Practice gap may stem from various factors, such as learning complex concepts through simplistic problems, struggling to integrate knowledge across courses for practical scenarios, and time constraints. The resulting two-year induction period poses challenges for companies, individuals, and higher education, emphasizing the need to identify and address specific areas of this gap. This study focused on identifying the Theory-to-Practice gap in process safety education using the Dreyfus Five-Stage Model of Adult Skills Acquisition. The overarching study aims to understand differences in how experienced industry professionals and undergraduate engineering students approach process safety judgments. In this pilot study, we conducted interviews where participants were provided with relevant criteria for process safety judgments and asked them to describe their approaches to specific scenarios. Both industry professionals and students drew on previous experiences, with industry professionals connecting scenarios to workplace events and students to classroom, internship, or retail situations. However, industry professionals emphasized the influence of relationships with co-workers, superiors, and families in their judgments, which was contrasted by student responses where a lack of relevance of relationships in their judgment process was observed. Previous incidents documented by the Chemical Safety Board identify the impact of relationship dynamics on judgment processes, highlighting the need for process safety instruction that addresses this crucial component. The pilot study findings support these claims, emphasizing the importance of integrating relationship considerations into process safety education to better prepare students for the intricacies of professional practice.
Butler-Morton et al. (Sun,) studied this question.