Hazard Identification and Risk Analysis
HAZOP, LOPA, QRA, and Bow Tie execution with a five year revalidation discipline
What this element is and why it matters
Hazard Identification and Risk Analysis is the engine that converts process knowledge into ranked, defensible risk decisions. The element spans the full study toolkit, from HAZID at FEED and IEC 61882 HAZOP at detailed engineering through CCPS LOPA for independent protection layer credit and IEC 61511 SIL allocation, to QRA, FERA, and OBRA for quantified consequence, Bow Tie for barrier visualisation, ALARP demonstration, and human reliability analysis for human error pathways. Our team runs these studies as a traceable, layered workflow rather than a one off exercise.
Individual significance for organisations
This is the highest leverage process safety investment an organisation makes. A HAZOP run at FEED stage costs 10 to 100 times less than a retrofit after startup and heads off the patterns that recur across major incident investigations. Organisations that treat the work as a defensible, traceable workflow protect their capital programme, their regulatory standing, and their insurance posture, while those that do not carry latent risk that only materialises in incidents.
Contribution to Risk Based Process Safety (RBPS)
This element is the analytical engine of pillar two, converting Process Knowledge (Element 6) into the risk decisions that drive the pillar three elements that manage risk. It produces the action register that feeds MOC (Element 13), the SIL allocations that drive Asset Integrity (Element 10), the scenarios that shape Emergency Management (Element 16), and the protection layer credits that protect operations. Without rigorous analysis here, the rest of the system runs on guesswork.
What compliant execution looks like
How we implement this element
A focused six step methodology calibrated to deliver hazard identification and risk analysis as a working capability rather than a documented compliance artefact.
We map the applicable studies against each project stage and the hazard inventory, aligning HAZID with the FEED gate, HAZOP with detailed engineering, and LOPA and SIL work with safety instrumented system design.
We specify the software per study type, whether PHA Pro, Easy HAZOP, exSILentia, BowTieXP, or PHAST, and enforce audit trail discipline and version control throughout.
We select a TUV, IChemE, or CCPS certified facilitator and assemble a multidisciplinary team that includes operator and contractor representation.
We classify actions per the CCPS resolve, investigate, and defer scheme, assign an owner and target close out, gate them by risk rank, and integrate the register with MOC and the corrective action database.
We run LOPA, QRA, FERA, and ALARP studies matched to the applicable consequence severity and calibrate them against your site tolerable frequency matrix.
We run the five year statutory revalidation alongside MOC triggered partial revalidation and integrate the outputs with operator handover and shift training.
Element implementation flow chart
A decision gated workflow that shows the actual sequence of activities from initiation through steady state operation, with key decision points highlighted.
What we produce
- A study programme plan per project stage
- PHA, HAZOP, LOPA, SIL, QRA, and FERA workbooks
- An action register with ownership and close out tracking
- An ALARP demonstration report where required
- Bow Tie diagrams for major accident hazards
- A five year revalidation calendar with MOC trigger criteria
Where execution fails
- Recycle loop and dead leg coverage gaps in the HAZOP
- LOPA that double counts protection layers that are not actually independent
- SIL allocation by rule of thumb instead of a calibrated method
- An action register that never closes, where recommendations are filed but never verified
Codes this element is built on
Explore related elements in this framework
Risk Based Process Safety (RBPS) full element index
Talk to us about implementing Hazard Identification and Risk Analysis
We can scope this element implementation against your facility, regulatory context, and existing management system maturity, then integrate it with the other Risk Based Process Safety (RBPS) elements you already operate.