HAZOP Study is most powerful technique available with us today to identify

hazards and operability issues early at the design phase and thus allow
correcting the design well in time and helping us in reducing the cost of design
change at later stage of the project.
In my 20 years of experience in the Oil & Gas, Petrochemical & Refinery
Process Safety engineering, I have observed that HAZOP is being applied in
numerous ways across the industry. If HAZOP technique is not applied properly,
it may lead to various problems i.e. Team may lose the interest in the middle
and there may be chances of omission of critical areas / nodes / deviations;
many of the times HAZOP workshop becomes battle ground between designers
and PMC / Operators.
Thus a proper HAZOP planning and selection of an experienced HAZOP
chairman is key for a successful HAZOP workshop!
Most important part of HAZOP planning is selection of HAZOP Chairman.
HAZOP Chairman should be selected based upon following criteria:

He/ She should have good knowledge of applying HAZOP Technique;

He/ She should have relevant experience to demonstrate authority of

recommendations made;

He/ She should have good command to lead the team towards
meaningful discussion;

Chairman should ensure proper team selection prior to the HAZOP.

It is often observed that Chairman arrives to the HAZOP workshop just the
same day as HAZOP and he has no prior knowledge of Process, project and
team members! For a successful HAZOP, Chairman should study the project
documents prior to the workshop. HAZOP nodes should be discussed with the
Process designer to save time of all participants during the workshop.
HAZOP Team selection is also very important criteria for a meaningful HAZOP
workshop. It has often observed that many HAZOP workshop are attended by
whole team of irrelevant discipline engineers such as Structural/ Rotating/
HVAC/ Electrical/ Project Manager, Project director etc. and it ends up in 25-30
participants seated in a large auditorium! This situation is beginning of a failed
HAZOP. More participants mean more distraction. Participants move in and out
of the room unnecessarily or cause distraction due to mobile phone ringing all

the time! Another disadvantage of large crowded team is that relevant people
may be sitting at the back and they may not be able to listen others opinion
properly and limit their contribution to the HAZOP.
For a successful HAZOP, Chairman should discuss the team formation with the
Project team prior to the workshop and limit the team of participants to
maximum 8-10 engineers such as Process, Piping, Instrumentation, Project
engineer & Operations. All other discipline engineers should be on standby and
may participate on call basis.
Chairman should also meet the participants prior to the HAZOP and explain
their role in the HAZOP. Chairman should ensure that selected participants are
available for the whole session and it must be clarified to the team that it is not
allowed to leave the room during the HAZOP. All participants should also
nominate their deputies to arrange for the situation, where they may have to
leave the workshop due to emergency.
Next step for a successful HAZOP is proper Venue preparation. Venue should
be away from outside noise however close enough to call standby team as and
when required. The Venue should be sufficient for expected number of
participants. Chairs should be comfortable for whole day use. Walls must have
facility to post P&IDs. Projector should be ready and lighting should be
adjustable to focus on the table to read the documents.
Project team must also ensure availability of drinking water, tea, coffee and
scacks arrangements within the meeting room to avoid participants leaving the
room frequently.
At the beginning of the HAZOP, Chairman must explain HAZOP procedure and
HAZOP rules often called as Golden Rules. Golden Rules set the way HAZOP
should be conducted consistently in a meaningful way. For example, HAZOP
must concentrate on reducing likelihood of cause of the deviation rather than
giving recommendation to reduce the consequences i.e. provide Fire & Gas
detection or provide active / passive fire protection system etc. It is not the role
of the HAZOP team to define loss prevention strategy. HAZOP must assume
that Loss prevention engineering is provided as per the codes, standard and
local laws. HAZOP team should concentrate on reducing the likelihood of
deviation i.e. check if there are positive isolation or not? Some sample Golden
Rules of HAZOP are explained below:

HAZOP does not challenge the design for normal operating conditions.
All equipment is assumed to be well designed, manufactured and
properly inspected. Plant is well maintained in accordance with the
standard.

No double jeopardy = failure of one single independent element at a

time.

Non process causes are not reviewed in HAZOP (e.g. storm, hurricane,
Dropped Objects, external impacts / Sabotage)

Spectacle blinds are assumed to be in correct position.

Consequences are reviewed without any safeguards (No human

response, No SIF, No mechanical barrier).

Consequences are described at least up to the initial physical event

(leakage, LOC, Off-spec, etc.)

No escalation assessment is reviewed during the HAZOP (No F&G

review, Layout, Safety distances etc.

Manual Valve closure/ Opening due to operator error should be

considered as credible scenario.

Control valve cannot be used as a shut-down valve.

Credit can be given to (Alarm & Operator response) only for Normal
operating task.

Credit cannot be given to (Alarm & Operator Response) for emergency

response.

Single check valve is adequate unless reverse flow may cause pressure
to exceed test pressure.

Mechanical Protection devices such as PSV/ RD are expected to work.

Operating instruction and operating manuals shall be considered as

effective safeguard.

Nowadays many operating companies require a Qualitative Risk Assessment to

be carried out for each hazard. Risk Assessment is a tool in the hand of the
operator to prioritize the recommended actions based upon severity of the risk.
However, this exercise must be carried out post HAZOP by HSE engineers and
should be avoided from the multidiscipline brain storming session during the

actual HAZOP workshop. If Risk is identified post HAZOP by Operating

company/ Contractors HSE Engineers, it can avoid distraction of HAZOP team
as well as save considerable time of the team members and reduce the cost of
HAZOP.
If you fail to prepare then you are preparing for failure. This saying is applicable
for HAZOP preparation also. As explained above, HAZOP must be properly
planned and executed to make it effective!