This paper explores the use of "conservation of life" as a concept and unifying theme for increasing awareness, application, and integration of process safety in chemical engineering education. Students need to think of conservation of mass, conservation of energy, and conservation of life as equally important in engineering design and analysis. By giving them appropriate tools for evaluating and implementing conservation of life principles, we can help them to better understand "what all this safety talk is about," and what their role is in contributing to process safety in the chemical engineering field.