Process Safety is a term commonly used in the process industries to describe the safety requirements related to design and operation of hazardous processes.
This article aims to give a highlight on some key areas of the subject matter. The areas will include:
- Elements of the process safety management system and
- Some process safety areas (Hazid, Hazop, LOPA, DSEAR, etc)
If you need more on process safety, you need to get trained.
Read Also: How to use the risk assessment matrix effectively
14 Elements Of The Process Safety Management
14 elements generally makes up the process; the elements are interlinked and also interdependent. The elements are:
- Process Safety Information
- Process Hazard Analysis
- Operating Procedures
- Training
- Contractors
- Mechanical Integrity
- Hot Work
- Management of Change
- Incident Investigation
- Compliance Audits
- Trade Secrets
- Employee Participation
- Pre-startup Safety Review
- Emergency Planning and Response
Some Process Safety Areas Includes:
- Hazard Review (PHR) studies
- HAZOP studies
- HAZID Studies
- LOPA (Layer of protection analysis)
- DSEAR (Dangerous Substances and Explosive Atmospheres Regulations)
- Quantitative Risk Assessment (QRA) that will assess the risk from all process failures as well as fixed plant risk (parts count QRA).
The Quantitative Risk Assessment (QRA) process includes:
- Fault Tree Analysis
- Event Tree Analysis
- Process Failures- QRA
- Part Count-QRA
- SIL QRA ( see also SIS/ Functional Safety)
- FMEA/FMECA/ FMEDA
- Human Failure Analysis
- Individual Risk Contours
- Societal Risk Implications, etc.
Read Also: 6 Methods of risk assessment you should know
Common Approach For Project Process Safety Management
The six stage hazard study is a common approach often adopted.
The stages include:
1. Concept: Preliminary Hazard Studies
2. FEED: HAZID/Coarse HAZOP, LOPA, QRA, DSEAR
3. EPC: Final HAZOP, LOPA, DSEAR
4. Commissioning: Verification of safety systems performance
5. Handover and Operations: Further verification and overall validation of safety elements
6. Continued Safe Operations: A hazard study is usually carried out after 6 months of process operation to ensure suitable performance of safety related elements has been achieved.
NOTE: This process can be tailored to suit any project by using a more comprehensive list of studies.
See related document (OSHA)
The subject matter is a broad area in safety management. If you need to be well versed with it, you need to get trained.
Read Also: What is fire risk assessment: How it is done
