HRELEOUOHHY HazOp and other Hazard Study senices ‘SCOrd.co.uk - First Class Hazard Study Services Hazard Study 3 and HazOp "Step 3 when checking the final design of a full scale chemical plant" ‘This page gives information and assistance on Anovoniow of HS3 Key features ofthe procedure How treats tothe other Hazard Study stages ‘Software available for assisting an HS3 LOweniew SI Isid the foundation of the Lazard Study ofthe new process 1S2 developed that snd identified all major hasrds inherent othe procest and sought to reduce or eliminate them, Since then, process design has developed te preferred process such that orders for equipment are probably being placed, a more detailed examination canbe catied out. Hazard Stay 2 provides @ methodology to cary tat out The overall purpose of Hazard Study 3 isto examine the design ofthe plant in detail, f operational issues are adressed aswell of process operation ones. its known a aHazOp. For convenience, [wil refer tothe procedure as HazOp from now on, irespective of this distinction, as most people know it ths way. Hence both the "183" and "lszOp" inks inthe navigation bar in tis website bring you to this same page Sometimes elients ask me to reduce the amount of "Op" consideredas they have such checks bul int other review procedures, eg Design Review; hence moving back towards the basic concept of HS3. Personally prefer not to reduce the scope this way and an not concerned over minor repeats of work asi is impossible to guarantee evry issue willbe covered in any Hazard Study, anda degree of duplicetion is sometimes helpful, Hopefully this study will ony find minor issues although if H1S1 and HS2 have not been caried out, there i a possibility of finding major issues, depending on the skill of th designers andthe se ofpreviously-wrified technology ‘The outcome of Stay 3 is report on te issues examined and ations sett wil also produce a sot of "HazOp master” P&IDs (Piping and Instrumentation Diagrams) which have been used by the meeting and form a hardcopy record of the plant items covered in the study, Since many plants are designed without the benefit of HSI and 182, lften sce HazOp studies being carried out throughout the process design activity. Since tome projects are large and this design phase might ake upwards ofa year, HlazOp stdies are often spaced aut and conser P&IDs that ae not frozen, This is poor practice, bu aa understandable one given the pressures of time aa budget management However it exposes the project to relying on the skill ofthe Lead Process Engineets to notice any issues that might influence the Haz0> results if PAID changes occur after the HazOp is catied out. Tis should not be accepted for any plant, and certainly not fr major hazard plant. For such cases, eoommend doing a HazOp twice, using a restricted HS3 procedure early in the final design stage, anda fll HazOp procedure wha the P&Ds ae frozen, Leal these HazOp- and HaeOp- 2. Koy features az0p is recursive procedure using a series of guidewords in two levels, I the ftstTevel, we consider parameters ike ow, temperate snd pressure, AL the second level, we consider deviations lke high, low, reverse, lest, and soon, These are spied o small sections af the Plant, usually called nodes. The sclecton of what equipment and pipes isin each node is done by experience but it should have no influence ‘onthe result. The ful list of parameters and deviations can be much longer than this. I can be customised toa process if appropriate, but the {empation to remove parameters and deviations completely from a study shouldbe carefully considered, and discourage this ‘The procedure should be carried out by a team of people who can bring ll the requted expertise and information about the process to the rmecting. Hence is will be typical to have a process engineer, instrument engineer, mechanical enginer, electrical engineer, operations representative, together with leader (chairman) and secretary (scribe). Other disciplines might be needed, eg environmental engineer, and risk engineer. lis possible to do the study with st al of these present, but ther attendance should be available tothe study when needed ‘There are many books, papers and articles on the HarOp procedure. is very versatile and canbe applied to batch, continuous or hybrid processes. Itlooks an easy procedure to cart out, bu the tearm mest be well chosen, familiar withthe process, in possession of all the equired information, and well led fr the process to he effective I's not particularly complex to catty ou, but itis easy to miss key issues unless the operstion ofthe plant is well understood and visualised. Te team is effectively a model of the plant and must be able to accurstely ‘consider what happens wen deviation from the design intent occur, Inmy experienc, it is amazing how oflen liens present P&ID for study without fully understanding how it works. It seems acrazy notion, butt often happens, My fits wo steps a each node ae to require the team to give a convincing explanation of 8) How does it work (nall modes of operation i there are more than one)? hipsiwscord.cosHS3 hi 18arie20168 ipuiwascord.co.ukHS3 hi HazOp and other Hazard Study senices 1b) What are the worst things that can go wrong, and how isthe process protected against these? (This is easy iC they have done an HS2, bt this is rarely the ease, Some teams really struggle on this ‘Akey decision a the start of a HayOp isto decide how it will be recorded. By Tul” recording, we mcan that every combination of parameters tnd deviations is recorded, and if there is no consequence o the combination isnot applicable for some reason then these are recorded in all cases. This canbe time-consuming and, frankly, very boring, which leads toa lengthy and ineffective study. The other extreme i to record by sctions and loss cases only, sometimes called "by exception’ In tis ease, only combinations which lead (oan action or risk potemil are recorded. This ean by OK, but loses the opportunity to record important information which might be useful in future work or revisits ofthe HazOp, Hence I prefer to record "by exception and significant findings” In this Twill record all stues discussed which esd to useful {information about the process and how it responds to deviations and how important considerations have been built into the design, ‘Actions ae raised when issues arse that cannot he resolved by the team in a reasonable timescale inthe meting. It isan important funtion ofthe leader / chairman to ensure tha! the time is used effectively and efficiently as HazOps ae expensive exercises. Sometimes debate and (hinking is best carried out in the mecting, but oflen issues cannot be effectively resolved anda person shouldbe actioned to revolve the issue outside the meeting. The software being used to record the study should havea facility to record aetions and list them for the manggement of their completion. Once complete, some projets convene an aston sty acceptance meeting” when the outcomes are reviewed and sppropriate outcomes are put into place (eg item design modifications), Other projects return ations to the leader for acceptance, ‘tis normal for a single set of P&ADs to be put in the study room and foreach node tobe marked on tin coloured highlighter pen In this way ‘visual check is made that all pipes and items of equipment are considered, and that helpful cut points between the nodes are defined. This "HazOp master" set of PRIDs should be retained with the project documentation for future reference ‘3. How HazOp selates to the other HS stages HazOp should be the final ratification of a desig in terms of it deeling with the risk inert int. Once complete, che plant construction ean, be started although in large projects itis normal for construction to begin before all HazOps are complet. In an ideal world, the Hazard ‘Study process could end there. However life is never straightforward, and problems and issues arise during construction, commissioning and ely plant operation, For these reasons, we have Hazard Studies 4,5 and 6 4, Software avilable for HazOp ‘Tere is plenty of commercially evilable software for assisting a HazOp study. These generally follow the same principles and check ist. Some are easier to use thin others, and some have features not found om others, bt all that Ihave seen will work. Thave my own sofware, writen in Lotus Notes, which provides similar fility to HazOp leaders, personally prefer ito any other software onthe market, but T guess I would say tar, would I? Tus i whenever doing a HazOp when the elient does not have his ovm software license and wants to keep to this house styl, Ifa clieat has such softwar, lem happy to use i but insist hat he provides a HzO secretary (sometimes called a HlazOp scribe) to bandle the software. When using my own software I again prefer a secretary to help as mm not ‘touch typist, but I can scribe and lead atthe same time without too much time penalty All software packages provide action reording and possibly action completion management. My software docs thes and fo people using Lotus Domino, we ean put the HazOp study results onthe Domino server where anyone approved can access the records and meke ations ndo alterations. Notes has very stfong and customisable access control 80 that al levels of aecess authorisation canbe set specifically for Individuals of groups of individuals so thatthe integrity ofthe HazOp is not challenged. For example, it an be set so tat only certain peaple ‘can open the database, only some of those can eit an entry and this ean be limited to specie entries, only some can create an enty, ad so Ifyou would like a copy ofthis software, please contact me using the e-mail link ftom my CEDCS web site, which canbe found here Inapwww.cedes comcontaet htm ‘There is one unique piece of HS3 software aailable, confusingly called "HAZID. ls not just for hazard identification, but for full HS3 azOp studies. The tnique feature of HAZID is that is takes electronic P&IDs and information on the chemicals involved, nd analyses thera ‘automatically using its knowledge base. In prineiple it offers a faster, cheaper and more consistent studies, and b) the opportunity o repeat the study whenever a PID change is made, Fence it is sid that it can be used as a design tool, Thave approached the originators several times and they have failed to demonstrate i runing to me, so perhaps itis not yet mature Stuart Ord [BSc (University of Leeds, Honours clas 1), CEng, FIChemE, MEI, TecRIOSH Stuart Is an experienced Hazard Study lership of safety studies - © Hazard Studies HS1, HS2, HS3 / HazOp, HS4, HS5, and HS6arie20168 HazOp and other Hazard Study senices «SIL assessments using LoPA, Event Tree Analys's, Faulk Tree Analysis, + Related work such as Fallure Modes and Effects analysis, and Bow Tie analysis © Hazard Identification (HaziD) + Training in any of the above topics - + For leaders «For participants ipuiwascord.co.ukHS3 hi