James R. Thompson

Jim received his B.S. degree in Chemical Engineering from the University of Texas at Austin in 1974 and has worked DuPont’s Victoria Plant since then. Jim currently serves as the Process Safety Steward for the site. In his present assignment, Jim oversees the Victoria Plant’s efforts to continuously improve in Process Safety. He is a member of the site’s SHE Council and directs the efforts of eight PSM Teams and over 100 employees working on a part-time basis to maintain PSM policies and practices, provide guidance and direction for the organization, and audit the status of PSM across the site. Jim is also prominent in PSM activities at the Corporate level, serving as the leader of the Corporate PSM Operating Procedures/Training Team, and as a member of the Corporate PSM Leadership Team, the Process Technology Team, the PHA Team, the Facility Siting Team, and the Auditing Team. Since late 1996, Jim has also led DuPont Nylon’s PSM Network, which leverages about 10 sites’ PSM activities and implementation.

Jim is a member of the AIChE, is past chairman of the Guadalupe Section, and a member of the Technical Advisory Committee for the Mary Kay O’Connor Process Safety Center at Texas A&M and the AIChE 11b (Process Plant Safety Symposium) Committee. Jim has been a member of the TCC Occupational Safety Committee and the Safety Seminar Sub-Committee since 1991, serving as Vice-Chair of the 1993 and Chair of the 1994 Safety Seminar Committee. Jim received the 1994 TCC Outstanding Service Award , Occupational Safety category, and has been a nominee for the TCC Safety Professional of the Year in 1997 - 1999. Jim has presented papers and/or participated in panels at AIChE, TCC and other conferences and seminars. Jim has been published in “Plant/Operations Progress” magazine, and is listed in “Who’s Who in the South and Southwest.”

Jim chooses to work as a safety professional because he feels that is making a contribution toward ensuring that no employees, contractors, or neighbors are injured or killed due to a Process Safety incident; and receives his greatest satisfaction from seeing his work lead to the identification and/or implementation of changes which will improve Process Safety at the sites he supports. Jim believes the biggest challenge for the safety profession and for the petrochemical industry in Texas are one in the same - to maintain the appropriate focus on and attention to Process Safety in the face of continued corporate “downsizing”.

Jim is married, and he and his wife Debra have two children, Paul and Kristin. Jim lives in Victoria and enjoys “Nordic Tracking” and other aerobic exercise, computing activities, and reading.