6 Ways You Can Prepare as a HAZOP Participant

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, an 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.

1. Gather Safe Operating Limits (SOL)

Knowing how far a process parameter can safely deviate can potentially lead to missed hazardous scenarios.

2. Brush up on simulation skills

It may have been a while since you have used a simulation program (such as Aspen Hysis), perhaps back in college. 

3. Prepare the latest Cause and Effect Diagram & Alarm List

Do you know what your trips do? Do you know what to do if your alarms go off?

The benefits of having this information available are two-fold. First, it allows the team to verify if there is sufficient safeguard response time. Second, when listing safeguards for a scenario, it is best practice to identify what a safeguard's actions are.