Process Safety

About the course

PS1 covers the full process safety lifecycle — from defining hazards and risk, through HAZID, HAZOP, What-If and LOPA, consequence and likelihood analysis, bowties and major accident risk, to inherently safer design, engineered safeguards and safety in day-to-day operations.

What you will learn

• The core concepts of process safety: hazard, risk and how they are classified
• Likelihood and consequence analysis methods, and the software used for them
• Risk assessment methods: HAZID, HAZOP, What-If and LOPA
• Risk management, the bowtie method and the Major Accident Risk (MAR) process
• Engineering principles for process safety in projects and design
• Safety in operations: Control of Work, Management of Change and operating procedures
• Inherently Safer Design (ISD) and how to design to it

Syllabus

1. 01

   Process safety concepts

   Definition of process safety · Personal vs process safety

2. 02

   Hazard identification

   Operating hazards · External hazards · Natural hazards · Human error · Other hazards

3. 03

   Hazard identification techniques

   Overview of techniques · Introduction to HAZOP · Introduction to HAZID

4. 04

   Hazard scenarios

   Risk · Scenario development · Barrier model · Causes and failure modes · Safe operating limits

5. 05

   Consequence analysis

   Estimating release and dispersion · Release and dispersion types · Ignition sources and safeguards · Fire and explosion types · Consequence impact analysis

6. 06

   Likelihood analysis

   Frequency and probability · Component and event failure rates · Fault tree analysis (FTA)

7. 07

   Defining the risk

   Risk reduction actions · Tools for assessing risk · Major Accident Risk (MAR) · Consequence severity · The bowtie process and bowtie barriers · The risk management process

8. 08

   Inherently Safer Design (ISD)

   ISD in projects · Strategies: eliminate, minimise, substitute, moderate, simplify · Plant layout considerations

9. 09

   Engineered safety and protective systems

   Stages of safety in projects · Hierarchy of barriers · Instrumentation, controls, alarms and operator response · Safety instrumented systems · Pressure safety valves · Inventory isolation · Gas detection and fire protection · Evacuation and survival equipment

10. 10

    Safety in operations

    Inspection and maintenance · Management of change · Control of work · Operating procedures · Competency and training

11. 11

    Process safety metrics

    Process safety KPIs · Incident investigation