Introduction to Process Hazard Analysis (PHA)

Process Hazard Analysis studies are used in the industry to identify, rank, and mitigate the risks associated with its activity. The goal is to ensure that the facilities are safe enough according to the company's adopted criteria and not excessively safe to the point of making the business unviable.

The purpose of this course is to provide an overview of the methodologies used in HAZID, HAZOP, and LOPA studies. It is not a course aimed at training facilitators but rather for individuals who will be part of the team conducting the studies or those who need to understand the methodology to interpret the resulting report.

We will discuss:

• What is risk?

• Risk perception;

• History of incident studies (Heinrich and Bird);

• Examples of accidents in the industry;

• How safe is safe enough?

• Types of studies used in the industry;

  
  

• Hazard Identification (HAZID);

- What it is;

- Required inputs;

- Keywords;

- Study steps;

- Example of a risk matrix;

- Example of a table;

- Example of report structure.

• Hazard and Operability Study (HAZOP);

- What it is;

- Required inputs;

- Process deviations;

- The 8 elements of HAZOP;

- Study steps;

- Example of a risk matrix;

- Example of a table;

- Example of report structure.

• Layer of Protection Analysis (LOPA);

- What it is;

- What is a scenario;

- Independent Protection Layer;

- Which scenarios to study?

- Study steps;

- The 9 elements of LOPA;

- Frequency and probability estimation;

- SIL level;

- Comparison of industrial work risk with other risks.

• Examples of HAZOP and LOPA;

- HAZOP - Liquid-gas separator;

- LOPA - Liquid-gas separator;

- HAZOP - Knockout vessel;

- LOPA - Knockout vessel;

- HAZOP - Oil storage;

- LOPA - Oil storage.