Hazard and Operability (HAZOP) Studies &

Process Hazard Assessments (PHA)

 
Process Hazard Assessment (PHA) is a set of organised and systematic assessments of the
potential hazards associated with an industrial process. A PHA can provide information intended
to assist in making decisions for improving safety and reducing the consequences of unwanted
or unplanned releases of hazardous chemicals. A PHA is often directed toward analysing
potential causes and consequences of undesirable events and it focuses on equipment,
instrumentation, utilities, human actions, and external factors that might impact the process.
PHA methods are qualitative in nature. The selection of a methodology to use depends on a
number of factors, including the complexity of the process, the length of time a process has been
in operation and if a PHA has been conducted on the process before, and if the process is
unique, or industrially common.
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Methods of Process Hazard Assessment

 
There are a variety of methodologies that can be used to conduct a PHA, including but not
limited to:
– Checklist;
– What if?;
– Hazard and Operability Study (HAZOP);
– Hazard Identification (HAZID);
– Failure Mode and Effects Analysis (FMEA).

FSES Typical HAZOP Workflow

 
The following workflow provides a typical guide on structuring the hazard assessment or
quantitative risk assessment workshop.
FAQ’s
 
What inputs are required by FSES in order to conduct the PHA Study?
As a minimum the following information would be required in order to conduct the workshop:
– Existing PHA / HAZOP report (if available)
– P&ID’s
– Cause and Effects Diagrams
– Facilities Design
– Operating Data and Procedures
– Maintenance Data and Procedures
– Interlock List
– Equipment Data Sheet
Based on the project requirements, additional information may be required, which will be
highlighted within the Terms of Reference (ToR).
Who is required to attend the PHA Workshop?
As a minimum the following personnel would be required in order to conduct the workshop:
– Process Engineer
– Controls and Instrumentation Engineer
– Process Safety Engineer
– Maintenance representative
– Operations representative
Based on the project requirements, additional personnel may be required to attend the
workshop, which will be highlighted within the ToR.
What is the expected output of the PHA Study?
On award of the study FSES will issue a project ToR, which will highlight the assumptions that
shall be made in the study, along with the workshop details, methodology and data sources that
will be utilised as well as any further information required from the client.
Upon acceptance of the ToR, FSES will facilitate the PHA study through a workshop providing
the facilitator and scribe. Once the workshop has been conducted FSES will prepare a PHA
report describing the facility, the scope of work, a detailed methodology, the PHA worksheets, a
summary of the PHA actions and any recommendations based on the discussions during the
workshop. FSES highly recommend that following on from the PHA study, a SIL Determination
analysis is conducted in order to determine the SIL requirements for the SIF’s identified during
the workshop.
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Electrical HAZard & OPerability Or
SAFety & OPerability (SAFOP) Study
Electrical HAZard & OPerability or SAFety & OPerability (SAFOP) Study is a

series of studies that can be used during the various phases of a Power

Electrical Engineering Project. These studies are applied to assist in

achieving objectives that include,

1. Optimizing the reliability, security, safety and operability of the

design to best meet plant/facility objectives

2. Identifying major hazards to different personnel in construction,

commissioning and operation of high voltage installations

3. Front Loading the design to avoid waste of time and effort of all

stakeholders due to possible rework or major modifications to

construction site and to help assure compliance with budget and

schedule

1. Facilitate organizational learning by providing a structured process to

embed prior learning and experiences in the design

2. Build stakeholder and end user commitment to the design.

Why SAFOP?
Each project is unique in terms of magnitude of investment in the electrical

infrastructure, complexity of the electrical system design and setup and the

working knowledge/qualifications of team members of all stakeholders in

the project.

Four key objective criteria are used for evaluating the requirement to

perform a SAFOP for a given project. These are as follows:

1. The estimated magnitude of the overall electrical investment. Larger

electrical investments are associated with a larger electrical footprint

and a higher electrical risk profile.

2. The electrical complexity of the project; i.e. use of new technology,

new equipment or major modifications to existing

equipment/systems, design innovation, complexity of system

interfaces, impacted utilities and consumers etc

1. The experience and capabilities of the design team in terms of

working knowledge of company plant/facilities/standards/operating

environment, experience in designing and/or operating and

maintaining similar plant and facilities etc

 2. The level of standardization with regard to company's safety culture

and work environment

Other, more subjective criteria, may also have relevance in assessing the

requirement to perform a SAFOP. These include:

1. Safety environment. The extent to which a high safety electrical

awareness exists and safety is a core value in the broader business

2. Electrical Stakeholder Management/Alignment - particularly relevant

for Joint Venture and complex stakeholder environments

3. The Regulatory environment and any specific requirements, issues or

expectations

1. Building end user commitment by engagement, involvement and

opportunity to input and interact

2. Managing / Discharging of company risk particularly where new

Design and Construction contractors and/or many

vendors/subcontractors are involved

3. Developing a more structured approach to organizational learning

KEY COMPONENTS OF SAFOP:

A SAFOP review typically comprises,
  SAFety ANalysis (SAFAN) which considers the layout of plant and

facilities to assess potential hazards.

 SYstem Security and OPerability Analysis (SYSOP) which considers the

way the system is designed to function, reviewing the design and

assessing security of supply. It covers the main equipment items and

auxiliaries including multiple supplies, on-site generation, changeover

schemes, standby generation and UPS systems.

 OPerator Task ANalysis (OPTAN) which examines probable tasks to

be undertaken by local and remote operators during both normal

and abnormal conditions

Benefits of SAFOP
Early use of the SAFOP process will minimize potential costs associated with

the study outputs. Electrical systems can present major hazards to

operation and maintenance personnel if they are not designed with safety

and operation properly taken into account.

Report Output
SAFOP report provides a summarized list of

acceptance/recommendation/action items with regard to the study carried

out using keywords and methodical approach. The report includes

worksheets populated with information as gathered during the SAFOP

study sessions and although non-binding in nature, provides the project

owner with sufficient background knowledge about the implementation of

adequate safety in the design and construction aspects of the project and

also about the safe operability and ease of maintenance of the installations

involved in the project.

Safety Integrity Level (SIL)
The Safety Integrity Level (SIL) Study is required to assess the distinct level for specifying

the security integrity needs of the security instrumented functions (SIF) to be allotted to the

security instrumented systems. Layer of Protection Analysis (LOPA) methodology are

followed that accounts the protective layers to stop to forestall and to mitigate dangerous

events with inherently safe design conception, to prevent the incidence / mitigate the results

from such unsafe event.

Technical Challenge:
There is an increasing dependence on Safety Instrumented Systems (SIS) to achieve tolerable

risk levels within the method sector. Additionally there's an increasing ought to justify that

the chance levels that are achieved are tolerable.

SIFs are one amongst the layers of protection that are designed into method plants mitigate

the incidence of major hazard scenarios; this suggests that the failure or absence of a SIF will

increase the likelihood of a unsafe scenario occurring and escalating into a significant

accident. It’s then necessary to estimate the chance of the Sif failing to act on a requirement,

in order for the users to determine if the target risk levels of their organization or country are

being achieved.

What are the benefits of conducting SIL Study?

Functional safety is one among the cornerstones of the security strategy for process Safety

Management (PSM) program of any method plant. it is therefore of great importance that the

life cycle of Safety Instrumented Functions (SIFs), together with specification, design,

validation, commissioning and operation & maintenance, is in accordance to the necessities

of the recognized practical safety standard: IEC 61508 [1] or its sector-specific spin off.
When SIL should be done?
SIL study is also one among the safety studies that is carried out to prevent hazard in method

industries. Usually SIL study is carried out once the HAZOP study is completed for a project.

Safety performance criteria for SIS is defined by Safety Integrity Level (SIL) of the known

loop. SIL is AN instrumented safety system that's designed in accordance with the IEC 61508

and IEC 61511 standards.

SIL study is also one among the safety studies that is carried out to prevent hazard in method

industries. Usually SIL study is carried out once the HAZOP study is completed for a project.

HAZOP study ensures safety and reliability at process level and SIL study ensures

accessibility or robustness at component level in a process industry.

A SIL level applies to a whole SIS loop under consideration. SIL

levels are used when implementing safety instrumented function that must scale back the

existing intolerable process risk to tolerable risk level.

As we are able to see from the figure below, SIS is an element of prevention as well as

mitigation of hazard.

Layers of Protection (Ref. BS IEC 61511- part-3)

Approach / Methodology
SIL assessment could be a risk based approach to spot the desired safety integrity levels (SIL)

for safety instrumented functions (SIFs) in accordance with IEC 61508 / 61511 or ANSI/ISA

S84.01.

The SIL assessment is performed by a multidisciplinary team led by a SIL facilitator.

Determination of the SIL of a sif may be achieved using completely different qualitative and

quantitative approaches.

 Risk Graphs – qualitative technique, projected in IEC 61508

 Layers of protection analysis (LOPA) – various qualitative methodology, wide employed

in the method trade

 Fault tree analysis (FTA) / Event tree analysis (ETA) – quantitative strategies

Generally a mixture of the strategies is used. As an example, performing arts an initial

qualitative assessment for all safety functions ("screening process") and performing a detailed

quantitative assessment for the higher criticality or less well understood functions.
Layer of Protection Analysis could be a simplified form of quantitative risk assessment. in a

very typical process plant, varied protection layers are in situ to lower the frequency of

unwanted consequences: {the process the method} design (including inherently safer

concepts); the basic process management system; safety instrumented systems; passive

devices (such as dikes and blast walls); active devices (such as relief valves); human

intervention; etc

There is a close relationship between HAZOP & LOPA

Typical Worksheet
The consecutive steps used to conduct the SIL
classifications ( LOPA method) are shown as follows:
The SIL classification proceeding will be recorded on SIL classification worksheets

After completion of SIL classification, SIL Verification calculations will be performed using

the exSILentia software Version 2.0 by Exida. This is often a tool to determine the SIL rating

for each SIF by using Exida database for failure rates of system parts. The software

additionally provides for analysis of study constraints to IEC 61508/IEC 61511.

Typical SIL Study team will include:

Following are the everyday team composition for the SIL Study:

 SIL Study Chairman (Full Time)

 SIL Study Scribe (Full Time)

 Project Manager (Part Time)

  Loss prevention Engineer (Full Time or part Time)

 Process Engineer (Full Time)

 Instrumentation & control Engineer (Full Time)

 Operations Representative (Full Time)

 Other Engineers (Electrical / Mechanical / Piping etc) on call Basis

Standards & Software Requirement

The software to be used for the SIL study is LOPA Excel Sheet (for Assessment)

 For SIL Verification – ExSILentia- ( Exida)

International Standards:
 IEC 61508 – 2010 Edition – Functional Safety of Electrical / Electronics / Programmable

Electronic safety related systems

 IEC 61511 – 2004 Edition – Functional Safety: Safety Instrumented Systems for the Process

Industry Sector – all 3 parts.

The SIL Study is generally classified under three stages as

 SIL Identification

 SIL Verification

 SIL Validation

iFluids Engineering has in-house capability, softwares and expertise to

support client desires on SIL identification in addition as SIL verification studies.