Michael Saura FSP| Feb 9, 2019
You've been invited to participate in a HAZOP study. What now?
HAZOP or Hazard and Operability study is a form of analysis used in the chemical processing industry to determine potential hazards and operational issues (gaps), analyze risk for a particular system and make recommendations to reduce intolerable risks. It is a known best practice AND very often, a regulatory requirement such as OSHA Process Safety Management (PSM), EPA Risk Management Plant (RMP), or Control of Major Accident Hazards (COMAH) to name a few.
If you work in an oil refinery, a chemical processing plant, ammonia refrigeration facility or an engineering design firm and you belong to the engineering, maintenance or operations group, there's a very high probability for you to be invited to participate in a HAZOP that may even dovetail into LOPA.
While an experienced facilitator is necessary so that the study runs smoothly, knowing how and what to prepare as a participant can ensure a high quality study and open up the possibility of finishing ahead of schedule. What's not to like?
Let's have a look at 6 ways to prepare for a streamlined study as a participant.
1. Gather Safe Operating Limits (SOL)
Not knowing how far a process parameter can safely deviate can potentially lead to missed hazardous scenarios. On the other hand, I’ve seen scenarios in HAZOP re-validations where the initiating cause resulted in a hazard (overpressure) even if the consequence did not violate any limits (e.g., maximum expected pressure is less than equipment MAWP or maximum allowable working pressure). This can lead to unnecessary or highly conservative recommendations.
Provide the safe upper/lower limit to the facilitator so it can be documented in each node of the study and the team can verify if a consequence for a scenario exceeds these limits. Examples of these could be a process equipment's MAWP or maximum allowable working temperature (MAWT) and a material's Nelson Curve limits.