Dr.
Ing Peter Compes
Class of 1993
Background:
Peter C. Compes was born in 1930 in Cologne, Germany. He graduated
from the Technical University of Aachen with degrees: 1) 1956
Dipl.-Ing. (Diplom-Ingenieur, is equal to M.Sc.); 2) 1963
Dr.-Ing. (Doctor of Engineering, equal to Ph.D.); 3) 1972
Privat-Dozent (highest academic qualification for a full professor).
Professional
Experience:
Dr. Compes began his career in 1957 as a Research Scientist
at the Institute for Ergonomics and Rationalisation (organization
of industry on scientific management principles and simplified
procedures). In 1963 he became the head of the Department
for Safety and Security at the headquarters of Klöckner-Humboldt-Deutz
Cy, Cologne (an engineering company with 33,000 employees);
the department had 650 personnel. Responsibilities were industrial
accident prevention, fire/explosion prevention and suppression,
all security systems, environment protection, risk self-surveillance,
product safety/consumer protection. In 1970 he joined Technischer
Überwachungs-Verein (TÜV), Cologne, a state authority
for hazard surveillance in all branches of industry; he founded
and directed the first Institute for Accident Research (IfU)
specializing interdisciplinary safety tasks. In 1972 he became
full professor of the Chair for Safety Techniques at the Hannover
Technical University. That year he also became a full professor
at Wuppertal University, where in October 1975 he founded
the faculty for safety science (the first in the world) and
was its first dean, becoming known as the "father of
safety science." Now (1993), this department has 20 full
professors; the staff of 180 serves 1,350 students enrolled
in safety techniques; programs range from undergraduate to
advanced Ph.D. degrees. That department attained a ranking
of highest among 14 departments in research activities and
financial support. Dr. Compes served as a consultant to government
and state authorities, industry and research institutes.
Career
Highlights:
In 1959 Dr. Compes designed and established a mobile exhibition
on "Occupational Safety" which was displayed at
many universities in West Germany. In 1963 and 1965, he received
the highest award of the German Congress on Occupational Safety
and Hygiene for the best scientific thesis. In 1975-76, at
the Catholic University of Louvania, Belgium, he was honored
with the International Francqui Chair, the highest academic
award in Belgium. There he served five years as a visiting
professor. He has received many national and international
awards, "The Educator of the Year" award in 1983
from the System Safety Society, USA -- the first to receive
this honor. In 1984 he gained the Haydn Williams Fellowship
at the Western Australia Institute of Technology. In 1990,
he was honored with the order of merit of the Federal Republic
of Germany. In April 1972, in Cologne, he organized a three-day
seminar on the impact of aerospace safety on society, a mutual
USA and West German conference. He has lectured at colleges
and industries in the USA and at NASA centers. He served in
India as an expert for ILO and UNIDO and held seminars conducted
by the Goethe-Institute, Munich, Germany. He was among four
advisors to initiate the First World Congress on Safety Science
in Cologne in 1990, sponsored by TÜV, with more than
1,000 participants from 100 organizations.
Dr. Compes
established and developed faculties for safety science on
the Wuppertal model in Australia, India and Europe. In 1978
he founded the Safety Science Society (GfS) and became its
president. He designed, planned and organized 14 annual international
symposiums on safety science and edited their proceedings.
He also
concentrated on the development of safety scientific riskology,
to focus on the phenomena of risk, on centers of risk analysis
and risk control. He published more than 100 books, articles,
papers, etc. internationally.
