Academic Credentials
  • Ph.D., Chemical Engineering, Illinois Institute of Technology (IIT), 2008
  • M.S., Chemical Engineering, Oklahoma State University, 1998
  • B.A., Chemistry, Knox College, 1997
Licenses & Certifications
  • Professional Engineer, Georgia, #PE046320
  • Professional Engineer, Illinois, #62059506
  • Professional Engineer Chemical, Iowa, #P22945
  • Professional Engineer, Michigan, #6201062901
  • Professional Engineer, North Carolina, #37722
  • Professional Engineer, Pennsylvania, #PE046320
  • Professional Engineer, South Carolina, #28918
  • Professional Engineer Chemical, Texas, #133719
  • Certified Process Safety Professional (CCPSC)
  • Certified Fire and Explosion Investigator (CFEI)
Professional Honors
  • Fellow of the American Institute of Chemical Engineers
Professional Affiliations
  • Process Safety
  • • Session Chair for Loss Prevention Symposium Tutorials, 2026 Process Safety Management Mentoring Symposium
  • • Session Chair for 60th Loss Prevention Symposium Celebration Session, 2026 Loss Prevention Symposium
  • • Session Chair for Battery Safety, 2025 Loss Prevention Symposium
  • • Session Chair for Loss Prevention Symposium Tutorials, 2025 Process Safety Management Mentoring Symposium
  • • Session Chair for Combustible Dust Hazards, 2024 10th Latin American Conference on Process Safety
  • • Session Chair for Alternative Energy Infrastructure, 2024 Loss Prevention Symposium
  • • American Institute of Chemical Engineers (Fellow)
  • • AIChE CCPS Technical Steering Committee
  • • Member of the American Institute of Chemical Engineers (AIChE) Loss Prevention and Process Safety Programming Committee (Area 11a of the AIChE Process Safety Division)
  • Fire Safety
    • National Fire Protection Association (member)
    • National Association of Fire Investigators (member)
    • Principal Member: Technical Committee on Ovens and Furnaces, NFPA 86 Standard for Ovens and Furnaces, National Fire Protection Association
  • Product Safety
    • Member of Underwriters Laboratories Standards Technical Panel (STP) 2157 covering the following Standards for Safety: ANSI/UL 1206 Electric Commercial Clothes-Washing Equipment, ANSI/UL 1240 Electric Commercial Clothes-Drying Equipment, ANSI/UL 2157, Electric Clothes Washing Machines and Extractors, and ANSI/UL 2158 Electric Clothes Dryers
  • Past Professional Affiliations/Positions
  • During his career, Dr. Morrison has chaired many process safety conference sessions, collaborated on manuscripts and presentations, and taught selected topics covering the following and similar areas of interest. The objectives of these activities are to aid in the prevention of major loss incidents that involve fires, explosions, runaway reactions, and hazardous material releases in the chemical, petrochemical, and related industries.
  • • Process Safety and Process Safety Management
  • • Fires, Explosions, Toxic Releases, and Reactive Chemicals - Consequences, Hazards, and Risks
  • • Combustible Dust, Battery Energy Storage Systems, Alternative Energy Systems
  • • LNG & LPG Safety, Hazards, and Risks
  • • Incident Investigation, Root Cause Analysis, and Lessons Learned
  • • Human Factors and Human Reliability in Process Safety
  • • Indicators and Key Performance Metrics in Process Safety
  • • Mechanical Integrity, Pressure Relief and Safety Instrumented Systems
  • Leadership positions of special note have included the following:
  • • Safety & Health Division of AIChE (Director 2021-2023)
  • • Conference Chair for the 7th CCPS Latin American Conference on Process Safety in 2016
  • • Symposium Chair for 5th Process Safety Management Mentoring (PSM2) Forum in 2016
  • • Chair of the AIChE Loss Prevention and Process Safety Programming Committee for 2012-2013
  • • Global Congress Chair for the 2012 8th AIChE Global Congress on Process Safety in 2012
  • • Symposium Chair for the 45th AIChE Loss Prevention Symposium in 2011
  • • Member of Underwriters Laboratories Task Group for Clothes Dryer Exhaust Duct Power Ventilators
  • • Member of Underwriters Laboratories Task Group to Address Requirements for Clothes Dryer Status Indicators

Dr. Morrison is a chemical engineer and trusted technical advisor with 25+ years of experience helping owners, manufacturers, insurers, and counsel understand and manage incidents, failures, and technical risks.He investigates fires, explosions, and hazardous material releases; performs root cause analysis and failure analysis; and supports risk-informed decision making across consumer products, industrial equipment, chemical manufacturing, oil and gas, food processing, and agricultural operations.

His work integrates the fundamentals of heat and mass transfer, reaction kinetics, combustion, and process engineering with evidence, operating data, and testing to develop and evaluate technically defensible causation and mitigation conclusions and risk management recommendations. Dr. Morrison often leads bespoke multidisciplinary teams of subject-matter experts to support complex investigations and analyses.

Dr. Morrison contributes to product safety and chemical process safety practice through standards development (NFPA, UL), technical committees (LPS, PSMM), international conference leadership (AIChE, CCPS, Latin PSC), and independent research and publication in peer‑reviewed journals and conference proceedings. He is frequently retained as an expert witness and has provided technical opinions in federal and state courts, mediation, and international arbitration. To illustrate the diversity of his experience, Dr. Morrison's primary practice areas, credentials, publications, and representative project experiences are listed below.

Fires, Explosions, and Hazardous Releases

Dr. Morrison investigates incidents ranging from residential and commercial losses to complex industrial events, including spills, hazardous releases, fires, combustion explosions, and mechanical overpressure explosions. His analyses combine field evidence, process/operating data, and first‑principles engineering (e.g., kinetics, combustion science, thermodynamics, and fluid dynamics), supported as needed by calculation, modeling, and laboratory testing to analyze the origin, cause, and consequences of these incidents.

Reactive Hazards, Self-heating, and Thermal Runaway

Dr. Morrison has particular expertise in reactive chemical hazards, including self‑heating materials, spontaneous ignition of oil‑contaminated fabrics, thermal instability of solids and liquids, and runaway reaction scenarios in storage, transportation, and chemical processing. His work often includes hypothesis testing via bench‑scale or full‑scale experiments and chemical/thermal characterization to link observed damages to credible ignition and propagation mechanisms.

Process Safety, Risk Analysis, and Process Safety Management

As a Certified Process Safety Professional (CCPSC), Dr. Morrison supports clients in proactive risk management and post-incident learning. He has led or supported hazard and risk studies using HAZOP, What‑If, and LOPA, and applies complementary methods including Fault Tree Analysis, Event Tree Analysis, Human Reliability Analysis, consequence analysis, transportation risk analysis, and quantitative risk assessment. He also evaluates and improves process safety management systems using OSHA PSM and CCPS Risk Based Process Safety principles, including management of change, mechanical integrity, and pre‑startup safety review.

Process Design, Operability, and Equipment Performance

Dr. Morrison evaluates process units and operating practices against RAGAGEP, owner's requirements, and design intent, including troubleshooting under‑performance and analyzing accident precursors. His experience spans pharmaceuticals, minerals and metals, food and agricultural processing, and oil, gas, and LNG. His expertise includes process engineering analysis for equipment such as bulk solids conveying (e.g., pneumatic, belt conveyors, drag conveyors) and storage systems, dust collection systems, air pollution control equipment, compressors and vacuum pumps, pumps/valves/piping networks, refrigeration and chillers, reactors, scrubbers, distillation towers and rectifiers, heat exchangers, pressure vessels, atmospheric storage tanks, flame arresters, emergency relief systems, and process control systems such as DCS and SCADA.

Product and Equipment Safety / Failure Analysis

Dr. Morrison applies systems safety and failure analysis to consumer products and industrial equipment across the product lifecycle — from development and risk assessment to incident response and recall support. His work has included forced‑failure analysis, flammability and fire containment strategies, and FMEA/RCA for new and legacy designs, with particular depth in heating and drying systems (residential and commercial clothes dryers; industrial dryers, ovens, and furnaces) and major industrial machinery (e.g., oil‑flooded screw compressors).