Hazard Analysis Methodology

hazards and their root causes must be identified. You should go through the system step by step and postulate what the associated hazards with this system under all operating conditions are (including abnormal conditions). It is important to 

System Safety Engineering and Risk Assessment A Practical Approach 

Define physical and functional characteristics Define facilities, technologies, and equipment Understand and evaluate the people, processes, procedures 

Identify hazards and undesired events Determine root causes of hazards 

Determine hazard probability Determine hazard risk 

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Detailed guidanee on the eontent and applieation of proeess hazard analysis methodologies is available from the Ameriean Institute of ehemieal Engineers Center for Chemieal Proeess Safety, 345 E. 47th Street, New York, New York 10017, (212) 705-7319. Also, see the diseussion of various methods of proeess hazard analysis eontained in the Appendix to this publieation. 

If the process is a new design, the experience requirement may be satisfied by bringing in a person from a sister plant or from a similar or precursor process. In addition, at least one member of the team must be knowledgeable in the hazard analysis methodology being used (see note at the end of Section 1.0). 

The process hazard analysis required by OSHA PSM is an example of a performance-based approach it allows for a variety of hazard analysis methodologies. A performance-based system requires experts to identify and evaluate all relevant reactive hazards of a process and to determine the complexity of the hazards analysis. If the hazard evaluation demonstrates the possibility of a catastrophic consequence, the process has regulatory coverage. This approach to hazard evaluation allows for both a comprehensive analysis and flexibility in implementation however, if applied to reactive hazards, it requires expertise for implementation and regulatory evaluation. 

Pereira, Steven X, Grady Lee, and Jeffrey Howard. A system-theoretic hazard analysis methodology for a non-advocate safety assessment of the ballistic missile defense system. AIAA Missile Sciences Conference, Monterey, CA, Nov. 2006. 

The team must use appropriate hazard analysis methodology and consult with those involved with the process operation and maintenance. Specified methods include what-if , checklist, what-ifVchecklist combination, failure modes and effect analysis, hazard and operability study, fault tree analysis, or an equivalent method. The team must identify process hazards review... 

The process hazard analysis shall be performed by a team with expertise in engineering and process operations, and the team shall include at least one employee who has experience and knowledge specific to the process being evaluated. Also, one member of the team must be knowledgeable in the specific process hazard analysis methodology being used. 

Detailed guidance on the content and applioation of process hazard analysis methodologies is available from the American Institute of Chemical Engineers Center for Chemical Process Safety (see Appendix D). 

The hazards analyses should be performed by a person(s) knowledgeable in engineering, operations, design, process, safety, environmental, and other specialties as appropriate. At least one person should be proficient in the hazards analysis methodologies being employed. If only one person performs the hazard analysis, that person should not have participated in the original design of or modifications to the facility. 

The hazards analysis must be performed by a person(s) with experience in the operations being evaluated. These individuals also need to be experienced in the hazards analysis methodologies being employed. 

Once the hazards, including the causal factors, have been identified, it becomes important to evaluate the hazards and their effects. Most hazard analysis methodologies apply some type of severity classification. This classification is used as a marker to compare the consequences of one hazard to another. Usually some engineering analysis is done so that you can understand what the effects of the hazard would be if an accident did occur. 

The last step in the hazard analysis methodology is the safety assessment. The safety assessment is just like any research paper in that it discusses the results of the analysis. If you think of the hazard analysis worksheets as the analysis results, then the safety assessment is the discussion of those results. 

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