Hazard identification

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

 What Does Hazard Identification Mean?

 Safeopedia Explains Hazard Identification

1. Dictionary

Hazard Identification
Last updated: October 30, 2016

What Does Hazard Identification Mean?

Hazard identification is the process in which the hazards of a workplace are identified within a
system, procedure or equipment.

Safeopedia Explains Hazard Identification

Hazard identification is a part of risk assessment in which the hazards are identified for further
investigation. Once the hazards are identified then proper measures can be taken to eliminate
them by using engineering controls. For example, if a fan is installed without a fan cage, then
installing a fan cage will be a engineering control to eliminate the associated hazards of using the
fan without a cage. The administrative controls can also be incorporated. For example, in this
case, the administrative control will be to repeatedly check if the fan

Hazard: Anything (e.g. condition, situation, practice, behaviour) that has the potential to cause
harm, including injury, disease, death, environmental, property and equipment damage. A hazard
can be a thing or a situation

Risk: The likelihood, or possibility, that harm (injury, illness, death, damage etc) may occur
from exposure to a hazard.
Risk Assessment: Is defined as the process of assessing the risks associated with each of the
hazards identified so the nature of the risk can be understood. This includes the nature of the
harm that may result from the hazard, the severity of that harm and the likelihood of this
occurring.

Risk Control: Taking actions to eliminate health and safety risks so far as is reasonably
practicable. Where risks cannot be eliminated, then implementation of control measures is
required, to minimise risks so far as is reasonably practicable. A hierarchy of controls has been
developed and is described below to assist in selection of the most appropriate risk control
measure/s.

Monitoring and Review: This involves ongoing monitoring of the hazards identified, risks
assessed and risk control processes and reviewing them to make sure they are working
effectively.

HAZARD IDENTIFICATION TECHNIQUES

A Hazard and Operability Study (HAZOP) is a systematic investigation of a

present or planned process or operation. It was originally designed to assess
chemical plants and the procedure and processes used in them but is now
applied more widely.

The goal of a HAZOP study is to identify and evluate any problems within a
plant or work environment that could pose a risk to the employees or
equipment. It also looks at processes that might prevent the facility from
running as efficiently as it should.

In this article, we'll go over what a HAZOP study involves and give some tips
and advice for those who will be involved in conducting one.

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How Does HAZOP Work?

HAZOP studies are carried out by a multi-disciplinary team, usually
composed of four or five members though larger studies can require up to
20 members on the HAZOP team. The team holds a series of meetings
during which they conduct a qualitative assessment of the plant's design.
The team’s focuses is on specific points of the design, which hare explored
one by one. What the team is looking for is deviations in the process
parameters.

Once the team has identified a number of deviates, each is considered as a

potential cause or effect of operational problems or hazards.

HAZOP effectiveness is largely determined by:

 The parameters and exact description of the study

 The skills and experience of the team members
 The team’s ability to work well together
 Meaningful questions posed by the HAZOP team
 Completeness and accuracy of the study
 The team's ability to use the outlined approach
 The team's ability to identify and concentrate on serious hazards and
not get sidetracked by sheer breadth of the study

(Learn more in Hazard and Operability Studies: The Basics.)

Why Is HAZOP Important for Safety Professionals?

In addition to helping the plant run smoothly, Hazard and Operability studies
also allow safety professionals to identify and then either control or elminate
hazards.

HAZOP is ideal for large and complex systems. Breaking these down into
their component parts and assessing each in turn gives safety professionals
a more fine-grained look at potential hazards that may otherwise be
overlooked.

Pros of Conducting a HAZOP Study

 An efficient, knowledgeable HAZOP team can save the company more

money than the expense of the condcuting the study
 HAZOP studies identify hazards and can thus save lives and decrease
employee injuries
 HAZOP teams provide a multi-disciplinary look at various processes

Cons of Conducting a HAZOP Study

 HAZOP studies are very time consuming

 HAZOP teams take a very focused approach to each element of a
process and may miss some of the hazards that are more evident from
taking a bigger picture perspective
  A team that is not led by a competent facilitator and composed of
knowledgable, experienced members may not investigate the
processes thoroughly enough or may fail to identify some of the
potential hazards

Hazard and Operability Study Tips

HAZOP studies can be very long and tedious. If you're conducting one, the
following tips may make it more efficient and effective.

1. Select a HAZOP team that has the necessary skills.

1. Do they all understand the design, operation or procedure that is
being studied?
2. Clarify the study's focus.
1. Are you reviewing a concept, procedure, operation, or design?
3. What are the parameters of the study and is the entire team clear on
this?
4. Prepare an information package well before the study begins.
5. Establish (in consultation with the entire HAZOP team) what software
may be needed to assist the study.
6. The facilitator should ensure that each team member makes
contributions related to their area of expertise.
7. Since HAZOP studies can be mentally taxing on those involved, the
team should schedule regular breaks to refocus.
8. The HAZOP team's meetings should be meticulously recorded and
meeting minutes should be kept for future reference.

Conclusion
A Hazard and Operability study is a great way to break down complex
processes and consider all the ways they could go wrong. It can allow you to
plan for the worst and prepare for the unexpected, but it's only the first
step. Once your HAZOP study has identified potential risks, those risks need
to be addressed and corrected.

Fault Tree Analysis (FTA)

Last updated: May 20, 2017

What Does Fault Tree Analysis (FTA) Mean?

A fault tree analysis (FTA) is a type of problem solving technique used to
determine the root causes of any failure of safety observance, accident or
undesirable loss event. It is a tree like graphic model of the pathways that
starts at the top and leads to a predictable and undesirable loss event.
Probability of such an event occurring may be entered and propagated
through an FTA model to assess the probability and prevent the foreseeable
and undesirable event.

Safeopedia Explains Fault Tree Analysis (FTA)

FTA was developed in 1960s and has gradually improved as one of the
primary methods of safety analysis. It graphically represents the interactions
of failures and other events within a system. Events are linked via a tree-like
structure and logic symbols to one or more top (upper) events.

FTA has the following characteristics:

1. It is a systematic method of system analysis

2. It examines a system from top down
3. It provides graphical symbols
4. It incorporates mathematical tools to emphasize critical areas

FTA provides the following:

 Graphic display of events linked to the loss event

 Recognizes potential contributors to failure
 Explains system characteristics
 Qualitative and quantitative understanding into the probability of the loss
event
 Identification of resources committed to prevent failure
 Suggestion for redistributing resources to reduce risk
 Documentation of analytical results

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EVENT TREE ANALYSIS

1. Dictionary

Event Tree Analysis

Last updated: October 29, 2017

What Does Event Tree Analysis Mean?

Event tree analysis (ETA) is an analytical technique used to evaluate process
and events leading to a possible accident. It is a causal analytical technique.
It is based on an analysis of a sequence of actions and events that have led
up to an accident. A graphical logical model is used to analyze this. The
response to the accident of the human operator and security system are also
taken into account.

Safeopedia Explains Event Tree Analysis

Event tree analysis was initially developed at the request of the nuclear
industry in the wake of the disaster at 3 Mile Island. Unlike Fault Tree
Analysis (FTA), ETA takes into account the events leading to the event. It
used in the areas of risk management, quality management, and security
management. An ETA analysis helps to describe the series of activities of the
security system. It results in recommendations to reduce the likelihood of
actions in the future.

What-If Analysis
Last updated: July 23, 2017

What Does What-If Analysis Mean?

A what-if analysis is a technique that is used to determine how projected
performance is affected by changes in the assumptions that projections are
based upon. What-if analysis is used to compare different scenarios and
their potential outcomes based on fluctuating conditions.

The purpose of a what-if analysis is to determine the effect of these

outcomes in a statistical model in conjunction with risk assessment. Different
methods of sensitivity analysis are available, including scenario-
management tools, brainstorming techniques, and modeling and simulation
techniques. What-if analysis is frequently used by researchers, analysts,
scientists, and investors.

It is also known as sensitivity analysis.

Safeopedia Explains What-If Analysis

What-if analysis is the study of how the uncertainty in the output of a model
or system (numerical or otherwise) can be linked to different sources of
uncertainty in its inputs. Its main purpose is to test the robustness of the
results of a model or system in the presence of uncertainty to better
understand the relationships between input and output variables in a system
or model.

What-if analysis searches for errors in the model through unexpected

relationships between inputs and outputs. It is used for model simplification
to fix model inputs that have no effect on the output, as well as to identify
and remove redundant parts of the model structure.

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SYNONYMS

sensitivity analysis

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 Analyze
Opportunity Part 1

Failure Modes Effect Analysis

(FMEA)

Learning Objectives
To understand the use of Failure Modes Effect Analysis
(FMEA)
To learn the steps to developing FMEAs
To summarize the different types of FMEAs
To learn how to link the FMEA to other Process tools

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 Benefits
Allows us to identify areas of our process that most impact
our customers
Helps us identify how our process is most likely to fail

Points to process failures that are most difficult to detect

Application Examples
 Manufacturing: A manager is responsible for moving a
manufacturing operation to a new facility. He/ she wants to be
sure the move goes as smoothly as possible and that there are no
surprises.
 Design: A design engineer wants to think of all the possible ways a
product being designed could fail so that robustness can be built
into the product.
 Software: A software engineer wants to think of possible problems
a software product could fail when scaled up to large databases.
This is a core issue for the Internet.

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 What Can Go
Wrong?

What Is A Failure Mode?

A Failure Mode is:
The way in which the component, subassembly, product, input,
or process could fail to perform its intended function
Failure modes may be the result of upstream operations or
may cause downstream operations to fail
Things that could go wrong

FMEA
Why
 Methodology that facilitates process improvement
 Identifies and eliminates concerns early in the development of
a process or design
 Improve internal and external customer satisfaction
 Focuses on prevention
 FMEA may be a customer requirement (likely contractual)
 FMEA may be required by an applicable
Quality Management System Standard (possibly ISO)

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 When to Conduct an FMEA
Early in the process improvement investigation
When new systems, products, and processes are being
designed
When existing designs or processes are being changed
When carry-over designs are used in new applications
After system, product, or process functions are defined,
but before specific hardware is selected or released to
manufacturing

Examples

History of FMEA
First used in the 1960’s in the Aerospace industry during
the Apollo missions
In 1974, the Navy developed MIL-STD-1629 regarding
the use of FMEA
In the late 1970’s, the automotive industry was driven by
liability costs to use FMEA
Later, the automotive industry saw the advantages of
using this tool to reduce risks related to poor quality

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 A Closer Look

The FMEA Form

Identify failure modes Identify causes of the Prioritize Determine and

and their effects failure modes assess actions
10 and controls

Specialized
Uses

Types of FMEAs
Design
Analyzes product design before release to production,
with a focus on product function
Analyzes systems and subsystems in early concept and
design stages
Process
Used to analyze manufacturing and assembly processes
after they are implemented

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 Team Input
Required

FMEA: A Team Tool

A team approach is necessary.
Team should be led by the Process Owner who is the
responsible manufacturing engineer or technical person, or
other similar individual familiar with FMEA.
The following should be considered for team members:
– Design Engineers – Operators
– Process Engineers – Reliability
– Materials Suppliers – Suppliers
– Customers

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Process Steps

FMEA Procedure
1. For each process input (start with high value inputs), determine
the ways in which the input can go wrong (failure mode)
2. For each failure mode, determine effects
 Select a severity level for each effect

3. Identify potential causes of each failure mode

 Select an occurrence level for each cause

4. List current controls for each cause

 Select a detection level for each cause

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 Process Steps

FMEA Procedure (Cont.)

5. Calculate the Risk Priority Number (RPN)
6. Develop recommended actions, assign responsible persons, and
take actions
 Give priority to high RPNs
 MUST look at severities rated a 10

7. Assign the predicted severity, occurrence, and detection levels

and compare RPNs

14

Information
Flow

FMEA Inputs and Outputs

Inputs Outputs
C&E Matrix List of actions to
Process Map prevent causes or
Process History detect failure
Procedures FMEA modes
Knowledge
Experience History of actions
taken

15
 Analyzing
Severity, Occurrence, Failure &
Effects

and Detection
Severity
 Importance of the effect on customer requirements

Occurrence
 Frequency with which a given cause occurs and
creates failure modes (obtain from past data if possible)

Detection
 The ability of the current control scheme to detect
(then prevent) a given cause (may be difficult to estimate early
in process operations).

16

Assigning
Rating
Weights

Rating Scales
There are a wide variety of scoring “anchors”, both
quantitative or qualitative
Two types of scales are 1-5 or 1-10
The 1-5 scale makes it easier for the teams to decide on
scores
The 1-10 scale may allow for better precision in
estimates and a wide variation in scores (most common)

17
 Assigning
Rating
Weights

Rating Scales
Severity
1 = Not Severe, 10 = Very Severe
Occurrence
1 = Not Likely, 10 = Very Likely
Detection
1 = Easy to Detect, 10 = Not easy to Detect

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Calculating a
Composite
Score

Risk Priority Number (RPN)

 RPN is the product of the severity, occurrence, and

detection scores.

Severity X Occurrence X Detection = RPN

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 Key Points

Summary
An FMEA:
Identifies the ways in which a product or process can fail
Estimates the risk associated with specific causes
Prioritizes the actions that should be taken to reduce risk
FMEA is a team tool
There are two different types of FMEAs:
Design
Process
Inputs to the FMEA include several other Process tools such as
C&E Matrix and Process Map.

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