This page is no longer being updated and remains online for informational and historical purposes only. The information is accurate as of the last page update.
For questions about page contents, contact the Communications Division.
William Koch ’68, global director of process safety integrity at Air Products and Chemicals, will talk about “Security and Vulnerability Assessments” noon today in Jaqua Auditorium, Hugel Science Center room 103.
Free lunch will be provided at the event, which is sponsored by the student chapter of the American Institute of Chemical Engineers.
Koch is a member of the American Chemistry Council and Center for Chemical Process Safety Security Task Forces that developed security vulnerability assessment criteria and methodology for the chemical industry. He also is chairman of the Compressed Gas Association Security Committee and a member of the National Petrochemical and Refiners Association Security Committee.
Formerly hydrocarbon engineering manager at Air Products, Koch took on his current role at the company as a result of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.
“Following the attacks, Air Products realized they needed someone to devote all their energy to dealing with the possibility of terrorism,” he says. “Air Products had a corporate security department and a process safety department, but no one to bridge the two and serve as point person for security-related information. That’s what I do.”
Air Products has reexamined security in four main areas — people, facilities, business transactions, and information.
“What’s new about all this is having to go back and look at our security measures with the idea that some group could intentionally attack one of our plants,” says Koch. “We’re developing global security standards. Air Products has facilities in 30 countries outside the United States. That’s 600 plants and 17,500 people. We have plants in the Middle East, South and Central America, all over Asia — our security operations have to be specific to each area.”
Koch, a chemical engineering graduate, holds a master’s in chemical engineering from University of Oklahoma. He has served as an externship sponsor, hosting A.B. engineering major John Ricketts ’03, for example. Ricketts met with people throughout Air Products, toured the facilities, and learned about jobs in sales, design, development, research, and management.