Our instructors are members of the standards and practices committees for safely automating chemical processes. We are active participants in safety system standards, such as IEC 61511, ISA 18.2, and ISA 84, and application standards, such as API 2350, API 556, NFPA 85, NFPA 86, and NFPA 87. No one had to teach us about these standards. We have chaired, edited, contributed, and peer reviewed more than 30 books, standards and recommended practices for organizations, such as API, ASME, CCPS, IEC, ISA, ISO, and NFPA. We can explain the underlying intent of the requirements in these industry practices, share war stories and shed light on a practical path to compliance.
We have been teaching the course on SIS for the Mary Kay O’Connor Process Safety Center for more than 15 years. We developed the first certificate program in the United States on SIS more than 10 years ago, which we called PRISM-certified – Protective Instrumented System Management. Now, we teach a comprehensive set of courses related to process hazards analysis, alarm management, and SIS. Regardless of your role in safe automation, we have a class that can expand your knowledge and skills.
The following are our highly qualified team of trainers.
Angela E. Summers, PhD., P.E.
Dr. Angela Summers has nearly 30 years of experience in instrumentation and controls, process design, and environmental pollution controls. Dr. Summers received her Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering from the University of Alabama, Master of Engineering, Environmental Engineering, Clemson University and Bachelor of Science, Chemical Engineering, Mississippi State University. She is a licensed professional engineer in Texas and a TÜV Rheinland Functional Safety Expert.
Known as Dr. SIS, she has published over 60 papers, technical reports and chapters for engineering handbooks, including Perry’s Handbook of Chemical Engineering, Lees’ Loss Prevention in the Process Industry, and the Instrument Engineers Handbook. Her academic contributions have included serving on dissertation committees for students in the US, Norway, and South Africa. She recently completed the editing of the 2nd edition of the CCPS book, “Guidelines for Safe Automation of Chemical Processes,” while leading and participating in other IEC, API, ISO, ISA, and AIChE efforts.
Dr. Summers was named to the Process Automation Hall of Fame by Control magazine. This award honors excellence, diligence and influence in the application of process automation. She was specifically recognized for her work on the ISA 84 and IEC 61511 safety standards.
In 2014, Dr. Summers became the first person in history to receive Fellow distinction from International Society of Automation, the American Institute of Chemical Engineers, and the Center for Chemical Process Safety. Dr. Summers received these honors for her contribution to the development of standards and practices for process safety management, especially in the use of automation to prevent loss events in the process industry.
Eloise Roche
Eloise Roche is an ISA Fellow, TÜV Functional Safety Expert, and U.S. Technical Advisory Group (USTAG) expert on Safety Instrumented Systems (SIS). She currently leads one of the core committee teams developing IEC 61511 Edition 3.
Drawing on 24 years of experience in the chemical industry, Eloise has spent the past decade advancing functional safety knowledge through publications, standards development, and professional education. She has co-authored nearly a dozen publications, including eight papers in Process Safety Progress, and presented at symposiums across the United States. Eloise has also contributed to ISA Technical Reports and CCPS books that provide functional safety guidance to the process sector.
As a Senior Consultant, Eloise combines deep technical expertise with a passion for sustainable process safety. She works with organizations of all sizes, helping process safety leaders in large multinational corporations strengthen their functional safety programs while also guiding smaller facilities through their first SIS implementations. Eloise teaches functional safety courses ranging from introductory concepts to Functional Safety Engineer certification and advanced practitioner training.
Her broad experience enables her to serve as a lead Functional Safety Assessor for project pre-startup safety reviews, independent assessments, and periodic plant performance evaluations.