How to become a Chemical Plant and System Operator 2024

Chemical Plant and System Operator Control or operate entire chemical processes or system of machines.

Chemical Plant and System Operator is Also Know as

In different settings, Chemical Plant and System Operator is titled as

Chemical Operator
Loader Technician
Process Control Operator
Process Development Associate
Process Operator
Process Technician
Production Technician

Education and Training of Chemical Plant and System Operator

Chemical Plant and System Operator is categorized in Job Zone Two: Some Preparation Needed

Experience Required for Chemical Plant and System Operator

Some previous work-related skill, knowledge, or experience is usually needed. For example, a teller would benefit from experience working directly with the public.

Education Required for Chemical Plant and System Operator

These occupations usually require a high school diploma.

Degrees Related to Chemical Plant and System Operator

Training Required for Chemical Plant and System Operator

Employees in these occupations need anywhere from a few months to one year of working with experienced employees. A recognized apprenticeship program may be associated with these occupations.

Related Ocuupations

Some Ocuupations related to Chemical Plant and System Operator in different industries are

What Do Chemical Plant and System Operator do?

Move control settings to make necessary adjustments on equipment units affecting speeds of chemical reactions, quality, or yields.
Monitor recording instruments, flowmeters, panel lights, or other indicators and listen for warning signals to verify conformity of process conditions.
Control or operate chemical processes or systems of machines, using panelboards, control boards, or semi-automatic equipment.
Record operating data, such as process conditions, test results, or instrument readings.
Confer with technical and supervisory personnel to report or resolve conditions affecting safety, efficiency, or product quality.
Draw samples of products and conduct quality control tests to monitor processing and to ensure that standards are met.
Regulate or shut down equipment during emergency situations, as directed by supervisory personnel.
Start pumps to wash and rinse reactor vessels, to exhaust gases or vapors, to regulate the flow of oil, steam, air, or perfume to towers, or to add products to converter or blending vessels.
Interpret chemical reactions visible through sight glasses or on television monitors and review laboratory test reports for process adjustments.
Patrol work areas to ensure that solutions in tanks or troughs are not in danger of overflowing.
Notify maintenance, stationary engineering, or other auxiliary personnel to correct equipment malfunctions or to adjust power, steam, water, or air supplies.
Inspect operating units, such as towers, soap-spray storage tanks, scrubbers, collectors, or driers to ensure that all are functioning and to maintain maximum efficiency.
Direct workers engaged in operating machinery that regulates the flow of materials and products.
Turn valves to regulate flow of products or byproducts through agitator tanks, storage drums, or neutralizer tanks.
Calculate material requirements or yields according to formulas.
Gauge tank levels, using calibrated rods.
Repair or replace damaged equipment.
Defrost frozen valves, using steam hoses.
Supervise the cleaning of towers, strainers, or spray tips.

Qualities of Good Chemical Plant and System Operator

Selective Attention: The ability to concentrate on a task over a period of time without being distracted.
Problem Sensitivity: The ability to tell when something is wrong or is likely to go wrong. It does not involve solving the problem, only recognizing that there is a problem.
Near Vision: The ability to see details at close range (within a few feet of the observer).
Oral Expression: The ability to communicate information and ideas in speaking so others will understand.
Oral Comprehension: The ability to listen to and understand information and ideas presented through spoken words and sentences.
Deductive Reasoning: The ability to apply general rules to specific problems to produce answers that make sense.
Information Ordering: The ability to arrange things or actions in a certain order or pattern according to a specific rule or set of rules (e.g., patterns of numbers, letters, words, pictures, mathematical operations).
Perceptual Speed: The ability to quickly and accurately compare similarities and differences among sets of letters, numbers, objects, pictures, or patterns. The things to be compared may be presented at the same time or one after the other. This ability also includes comparing a presented object with a remembered object.
Control Precision: The ability to quickly and repeatedly adjust the controls of a machine or a vehicle to exact positions.
Far Vision: The ability to see details at a distance.
Hearing Sensitivity: The ability to detect or tell the differences between sounds that vary in pitch and loudness.
Arm-Hand Steadiness: The ability to keep your hand and arm steady while moving your arm or while holding your arm and hand in one position.
Reaction Time: The ability to quickly respond (with the hand, finger, or foot) to a signal (sound, light, picture) when it appears.
Auditory Attention: The ability to focus on a single source of sound in the presence of other distracting sounds.
Written Comprehension: The ability to read and understand information and ideas presented in writing.
Visual Color Discrimination: The ability to match or detect differences between colors, including shades of color and brightness.
Speech Clarity: The ability to speak clearly so others can understand you.
Manual Dexterity: The ability to quickly move your hand, your hand together with your arm, or your two hands to grasp, manipulate, or assemble objects.
Speech Recognition: The ability to identify and understand the speech of another person.
Written Expression: The ability to communicate information and ideas in writing so others will understand.
Inductive Reasoning: The ability to combine pieces of information to form general rules or conclusions (includes finding a relationship among seemingly unrelated events).
Flexibility of Closure: The ability to identify or detect a known pattern (a figure, object, word, or sound) that is hidden in other distracting material.
Finger Dexterity: The ability to make precisely coordinated movements of the fingers of one or both hands to grasp, manipulate, or assemble very small objects.
Category Flexibility: The ability to generate or use different sets of rules for combining or grouping things in different ways.
Time Sharing: The ability to shift back and forth between two or more activities or sources of information (such as speech, sounds, touch, or other sources).
Number Facility: The ability to add, subtract, multiply, or divide quickly and correctly.
Rate Control: The ability to time your movements or the movement of a piece of equipment in anticipation of changes in the speed and/or direction of a moving object or scene.
Speed of Closure: The ability to quickly make sense of, combine, and organize information into meaningful patterns.
Multilimb Coordination: The ability to coordinate two or more limbs (for example, two arms, two legs, or one leg and one arm) while sitting, standing, or lying down. It does not involve performing the activities while the whole body is in motion.
Visualization: The ability to imagine how something will look after it is moved around or when its parts are moved or rearranged.
Wrist-Finger Speed: The ability to make fast, simple, repeated movements of the fingers, hands, and wrists.
Mathematical Reasoning: The ability to choose the right mathematical methods or formulas to solve a problem.
Trunk Strength: The ability to use your abdominal and lower back muscles to support part of the body repeatedly or continuously over time without "giving out" or fatiguing.
Memorization: The ability to remember information such as words, numbers, pictures, and procedures.
Extent Flexibility: The ability to bend, stretch, twist, or reach with your body, arms, and/or legs.
Static Strength: The ability to exert maximum muscle force to lift, push, pull, or carry objects.
Gross Body Equilibrium: The ability to keep or regain your body balance or stay upright when in an unstable position.
Depth Perception: The ability to judge which of several objects is closer or farther away from you, or to judge the distance between you and an object.
Stamina: The ability to exert yourself physically over long periods of time without getting winded or out of breath.
Response Orientation: The ability to choose quickly between two or more movements in response to two or more different signals (lights, sounds, pictures). It includes the speed with which the correct response is started with the hand, foot, or other body part.
Fluency of Ideas: The ability to come up with a number of ideas about a topic (the number of ideas is important, not their quality, correctness, or creativity).
Gross Body Coordination: The ability to coordinate the movement of your arms, legs, and torso together when the whole body is in motion.
Originality: The ability to come up with unusual or clever ideas about a given topic or situation, or to develop creative ways to solve a problem.
Dynamic Strength: The ability to exert muscle force repeatedly or continuously over time. This involves muscular endurance and resistance to muscle fatigue.
Glare Sensitivity: The ability to see objects in the presence of a glare or bright lighting.
Speed of Limb Movement: The ability to quickly move the arms and legs.
Spatial Orientation: The ability to know your location in relation to the environment or to know where other objects are in relation to you.
Peripheral Vision: The ability to see objects or movement of objects to one's side when the eyes are looking ahead.
Sound Localization: The ability to tell the direction from which a sound originated.
Explosive Strength: The ability to use short bursts of muscle force to propel oneself (as in jumping or sprinting), or to throw an object.
Night Vision: The ability to see under low-light conditions.
Dynamic Flexibility: The ability to quickly and repeatedly bend, stretch, twist, or reach out with your body, arms, and/or legs.

Tools Used by Chemical Plant and System Operator

Agitator tanks
Air conditioning systems
Axial flow fans
Barometers
Belt conveyors
Blending vessels
Boilers
Bourdon tubes
Bucket elevators
Calibrated rods
Capacitance probes
Centrifugal compressors
Centrifugal fans
Centrifugal pumps
Chain conveyors
Chemical reactor vessels
Collectors
Control boards
Converter vessels
Conveyor feeders
Cooling towers
Desktop computers
Digital surface thermometers
Display screens
Distillation columns
Effluent treatment systems
Fire extinguishers
Gas analyzers
Heating vessels
Hoppers
Humidifiers
Hydraulic accumulators
Industrial dryers
Industrial fans
Industrial liquid flowmeters
Manometers
Mixing tanks
Neutralizer tanks
Panel lights
Panelboards
Personal protective equipment
Positive displacement pumps
Pressure gauges
Radiographic detecting instruments
Reciprocating compressors
Reciprocating pumps
Recording calorimeters
Refrigeration systems
Rotary pumps
Screw conveyors
Silencers
Soap-spray storage tanks
Steam hoses
Steam turbines
Storage drums
Tensometers
Thermocouple temperature probes
Thermocouples
Viscometers
Wet scrubbers

Technology Skills required for Chemical Plant and System Operator

Alarm management system software
Coordinated incident management system CIMS software
Distributed control system DCS
Interlock shutdown systems
Microsoft Excel
Microsoft Office software
Microsoft Word

US Universities

How to become Chemical Plant and System Operator in 2024