Hazard register causes

The Hazard Register - describing the individual hazards, causes and controls... 

Section 2.6 discussed the concept of the hazard, one of the fundamental building blocks of the hazard register. We turn our attention now to some of the other concepts impacts, causes and controls. 

So far we have looked at the nature of impacts, hazards, causes and controls but we need to consider how these concepts hang together. In particular, how can we use these concepts to construct and articulate knowledge in the form of a hazard register ... 

Finally one needs to think through how controls are articulated in this structure and this is where the picture can become more complex. Are controls associated with individual causes, with the hazard itself or even the impacts There is no right or wrong answer here and each approach has its merits. As previously discussed, controls which are hnked directly to impacts tend to be of a reactive nature. A HIT hazard register will typically focus on the proactive so this linkage is often not terribly useful. 

Recording controls directly against the hazard is fairly straight-forward in terms of structure. The result is that each hazard has a set of causes, a set of controls and a set of impacts aU independent of each other but linked through a common hazard. Many hazard registers are constructed in just this way. This is a neat and concise approach but not without its limitations (Fig. 12.2). 

Fig. 12.2 Hazard register structure with each hazard having independent causes, controls and impacts...

The latter approach works well in HIT CRM and can easily be expressed as a three-tier, one-to-many hierarchy each hazard has multiple causes, each cause has multiple controls. Later in the analysis, each control will be evidenced (although this might not be set out in the hazard register itself). 

The workflow should be broken down to manageable chunks each of which become a target for a round of hazard analysis and perhaps our what-if questions. It is at this stage that detailed hazards, causes and controls can be established which will form the bulk of the hazard register. The system business processes themselves may be derived from a number of different sources depending on the material available. Some systems may have detailed use cases with primary and exception flows carefully documented. For others the processes may need to be ascertained from training material, product descriptions or test cases. 

All of the above statements are correct and indeed very relevant to the hazard register in question. However turning this into something that can be articulated as a well-constructed hazard register is not immediately obvious. Even at a most basic level determining which of these are hazard, causes, controls and impacts can be a challenge. So where to go from here ... 

Controls are those measures which are put in place to reduce risk arguably the most important elements of a hazard register. Although the structure of hazard registers vary, the objective should be to systematically mitigate each cause of the identified hazards. Some degree of traceability needs to be defined between the causes and controls to demonstrate completeness of this exercise. This assists in clearly establishing those causes for which controls do not exist. 

There could be many variations on this theme depending on style and subject matter. The point is that the approach is simple and all in one place. As a reader I don t need to wade through test plans, defect logs, requirements matrices or any other collateral - those artefacts are available as and when 1 want to see further evidence. Where there are multiple key hazards this kind of story would be repeated, not for every last cause and control in the hazard register but for those where the risk justified the effort. 

The risk analysis and evaluation will form the heart of the safety case. It is here where the argument and evidence is set out to justify the report s safety claims. This information is inextricably linked to the detail in the hazard register but in the safety case one has the opportunity for further explanation and elaboration. The hazard register typically has a formal structure to support cohesion and consistency between hazards. The fiee-form text of the safety case facilitates articulation and openness enabling us to support our argument with direct and indirect evidence. Essentially the text provides the necessary inference between the hazards, causes, controls and evidence that is needed to justify the argument. 

Fig. H/3.2.5 1 is an important record-keeping document for HAZID analysis. This hazard register is same as the risk register discussed in Clause 3.2 of Chapter I, and details of the risk register are shown in Fig. 1/3.2.1-1. Since details of the risk register are already available, it will not be repeated here. Fig. 11/3.2.5-1 shows the basic structure. In the case of HAZID, hazard register is the popular term, hence it is used here. These hazard registers are available for each section of the facility. For each section, all hazards and major incidents/accidents are listed along with the probable cause. The register also contains the control measure, assumptions, etc. This will become the main document for subsequent use.

The main output of HAZID is the documentation in the form of the hazard register where all hazards are listed with identification for each section, and cause and consequence and suitable linking with control measures are recorded. This is done in a logical structure and detailed in Clause 3.2.5 of this chapter, and hence is not repeated. Here, one very important point is that all assumptions, debated issues, and uncertainties must be logically recorded for further review. Another issue connected with HAZID study output is its application. The major application area of HAZID by the operator shall include but not be limited to the following ... 

The information stored in the system safety portion of the safety knowledge management system should include Prior and current safety analyses Accident and near-miss histories Safety standards Identified hazards Known causes of identified hazards Proven hazard controls List of hazard consequences Hazard logs and risk registers Your hazard tracking system... 

There are over 400 potentially hazardous industrial projects in Ukraine, 27 of which have the highest risk of accidents disasters with catastrophic consequences. During the last three years there have been registered 74 emergency situations of natural character, while there have been 123 records of man-caused emergencies, which is almost twice as many. This is a vivid illustration of the extremely poor technical condition of potentially hazardous installations. 

The total number of chemical substances registered under the Chemical Substances Control Law is approximately 28 000 including approximately 20 000 substances as existing substances as of 1973 and approximately 8000 substances as new substances registered thereafter. Until the amendment, they were classified into non-regulated substances, class I specified chemical substances, class II specified chemical substances and designated chemical substances according to their hazard levels on humans caused by their environmental pollution. In the Chemical Substances Control Law amended in 2004 there have been newly established -... 

PAA is an acrylate polymer formed from the monomer acrylamide, which is a neurotoxin that causes peripheral neuropathy. Non-polymerised remnants of acrylamide in PAA pose some potential risks. It is claimed that, people unintentionally absorb around 25 pg of acrylamide daily from the environment, which may account for a significant number of cancer cases. Although there is no solid proof so far for a connection between acrylamide intake and cancer, it remains under investigation, and acrylamide can still be considered as a probable human carcinogen. On a health hazard spectrum, acrylamide registers 2 (3 = a very high hazard to health 2 = a medium hazard, and 1 = harmful to health arsenic scores highly at 2.3, while one of the lowest scores is ammonia at 1.0) [37]. 

Management must show that they are acting on findings in an orderly and expeditious manner, usually through use of a risk register. It is bad to have an accident, but it is much worse to have an accident caused by a situation that had been identified by a hazards team, but not acted upon. 

In recent years, there has been increasing emphasis placed on the health effects of chemical exposures. However, as has been frequently noted, health effects are much more difficult to quantitatively characterize than most physical safety parameters. It is straightforward to define with reasonable accuracy a number of physical hazards, such as the upper and lower explosive limits of the vapors of a flammable material. However, the exposure levels (see Figure 4.16, taken from the Federal Register Vol. 53, No. 109, June 7, 1988, p. 21342) which will cause a given physiological effect in humans are not nearly as precise, especially if the effect of interest is delayed or is due to prolonged exposure to low levels of a toxic material. 

The two parts of the module, the cadastre of sections and the cadastre of hazardous scenarios, must be presented in a electronic formulary, with a requisite pattern of information required to the users Fo the system. On the sections cadastre, the type of data or information required and necessary parameters to characterize the sections must be specified previously, since technical aspects to information about their location and neighborhood environment. The cadastre of hazardous scenarios has the particularity that can be characterized according the resultant heat flow, information that in a first moment must be mentioned by the user when he register the scenario. This register must also have questions that are related to the fault causes and, if it is the case, the estimated value of the... 

Employers are responsible for the safe condition of materials and equipment used for protective systems. Defective and damaged materials and equipment can result in the failure of a protective system and cause excavation hazards. If materials and equipment are not safe for use, they must be removed from service. These materials cannot be returned to service without the evaluation and approval of a registered professional engineer. 

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