Hazards Analysis & Risks Assessment

By
Sebastien A. Daleyden
Vincent M. Goussen

Hazards Analysis & Risks Assessment

Importance of safety in design

Hazard analysis: What is it?
An useful engineers tool: Designsafe

Importance of safety in design

Unintentional injuries
Cost of $399 billion a year only in the USA;
Fifth leading cause of death;
Due to interaction between machines and
their environment and the way people live
and work
Engineers should more think about the
safety of the users...

Importance of safety in design

The main reasons why we should
more care about safety are:
Time
Costs
Competition
International Influences
Capturing knowledge
Product liability

Hazard analysis: What is it?

Objectives:
Tool for engineers and safety practitioners to
identify possible hazards,
provide an evaluation of the risks,
prompt alternative design solutions to
mitigate or control the risks to an
acceptable level.

Hazard analysis: What is it?

Hazard: Potentially dangerous condition,
which is triggered by an event, called the
cause of the hazard.
Risk: hazard that is associated with a severity
and a probability of occurrence.

Hazard analysis: What is it?

Hazard analysis: Identify all possible
hazards potentially created by a product,
process or application.
Risk assessment: It is the next step after the
collection of potential hazards. Risk in this
context is the probability and severity of
the hazard becoming reality.

Hazard analysis: What is it?

When performed:
Before the design begins.
Information used:
Literature,
Scenarios,
Expert opinions,
Personal experience.

Hazard analysis: What is it?

General risk assessment protocol :
E s t a b li s h A n a l y s i s P a r a m e t e r s
I d e n t ify H a z a r d s
A s s e s s R is k s
D e riv e R is k R a tin g
R e d u c e R is k s
V e r i f y E f f e c t iv e n e s s
D o c u m e n t R e s u lts

Hazard analysis: What is it?

E s t a b li s h A n a l y s i s P a r a m e t e r s
Id e n tify H a z a r d s
A s s e s s R is k s
D e riv e R is k R a tin g
R e d u c e R is k s
V e r if y E f f e c t iv e n e s s
D o c u m e n t R e s u lts

These parameters can be

limits of the machine or
design, limits on uses,
limits on the scope of the
analysis, or other limits.

Hazard analysis: What is it?

E s t a b li s h A n a l y s i s P a r a m e t e r s
I d e n tify H a z a r d s
A s s e s s R is k s
D e riv e R is k R a tin g
R e d u c e R is k s
V e r i f y E f f e c t iv e n e s s
D o c u m e n t R e s u lts

The nature of this step

lends itself to a team
approach such as
brainstorming.

Hazard analysis: What is it?

E s t a b li s h A n a l y s i s P a r a m e t e r s
Id e n t ify H a z a r d s
A s s e s s R is k s
D e riv e R is k R a tin g
R e d u c e R is k s
V e r i f y E f f e c t iv e n e s s
D o c u m e n t R e s u lts

Two risk factors are used:

severity of injury
probability of occurrence

Hazard analysis: What is it?

E s t a b li s h A n a l y s i s P a r a m e t e r s

Risk matrix:
Severity Category

I d e n t ify H a z a r d s
A s s e s s R is k s
D e riv e R is k R a tin g
R e d u c e R is k s
V e r i f y E f f e c t iv e n e s s
D o c u m e n t R e s u lts

Probability Level Catastrophic Critical

Marginal

Negligible

Frequent

High

High

Serious

Serious

Probable

High

High

Serious

Low

Occasional

High

Serious

Low

Low

Remote

Serious

Low

Low

Low

Improbable

Serious

Low

Low

Low

If the risk is determined to not be

acceptable, it is necessary to reduce
that risk by implementing protective
measures.

Hazard analysis: What is it?

E s t a b li s h A n a l y s i s P a r a m e t e r s
I d e n tify H a z a r d s

Remedy actions are taken to

reduce risks following the hazard
hierarchy:

A s s e s s R is k s
D e riv e R is k R a tin g
R e d u c e R is k s
V e r i f y E f f e c t iv e n e s s
D o c u m e n t R e s u lts

Eliminate hazards through the design

Protect
Warn the user
Train the user(s)
Personal protective equipment

Hazard analysis: What is it?

E s t a b li s h A n a l y s i s P a r a m e t e r s
I d e n tify H a z a r d s
A s s e s s R is k s
D e riv e R is k R a tin g
R e d u c e R is k s
V e r i f y E f f e c t iv e n e s s
D o c u m e n t R e s u lts

This assessment verifies

that the remedy actions
have reduced the risks to
an acceptable level.

Hazard analysis: What is it?

E s t a b li s h A n a l y s i s P a r a m e t e r s
I d e n tify H a z a r d s
A s s e s s R is k s
D e riv e R is k R a tin g
R e d u c e R is k s
V e r i f y E f f e c t iv e n e s s
D o c u m e n t R e s u lts

The documentation can be added

to a technical file for future use.

Hazard analysis: What is it?

When to stop:
There is no zero risk, always some
residual risk remains.
If the residual risk is acceptable, then
the risk assessment process is
completed.

Hazard analysis: What is it?

Caution:
Any hazard, which is not identified, will not
be addressed by safety measures and will
not be detecting during testing.
Hazard not identified during this analysis
can create substantial risk to users of the
design.

Hazard analysis: What is it?

An efficient tool:
A new computer tool, named
Designsafe, specially designed to speed the
hazard analysis process has become
available.
It uses a task-based method to ensure all
hazards to users are identified.

An useful engineers tool: Designsafe

dse has developed a fast, easy-to-use tool for
engineers and safety professionals to incorporate
safety through design by:
identifying hazards
prompting engineers to think about hazards which
they otherwise might overlook
conducting a risk assessment for identified hazards
reducing risks in a structured method
preventing accidents and reducing liability

An useful engineers tool: Designsafe

what it is...
an engineering tool for improving product
designs and processes
a systematic method for conducting a taskbased safety analysis
a technique for eliminating and controlling
hazards

An useful engineers tool: Designsafe

what it does...
gives designers a quick and easy tool to evaluate safety
issues through design
permits quick assessment of engineer's change orders
to safety issues
assists design engineers in completing a safety analysis
for their products/processes
helps companies identify potential hazards and
provides methods for elimination
prioritizes design activities related to risk

An useful engineers tool: Designsafe

what are the benefits...

helps prompt remedy actions for existing hazards
can be employed at all stages of the life cycle of a
design
assists in obtaining the CE mark for assessing
European markets
can be printed for documentation or a technical file
helps assure all hazards are addressed to completion

An useful engineers tool: Designsafe

what are the limits...

Its a guide, not an expert system;
Poor inputs or incomplete data lead to poor results.

What could be the next steps ?

Fault Tree Analysis (FTA)
a powerful diagnostic tool for analyzing
complex systems,
begins with selecting the top event,
repeating this process at successive levels
using standardized symbols identifies
primary and secondary faults.

What could be the next steps ?

Failure Modes and Effects Analysis
identifies potential product modes which could
lead to accidents,
breaks down designs into components or
subcomponents, then systematically evaluates the
potential for and effects of individual failures,
results of the analysis are used to evaluate and
implement preventive measures to eliminate or
control hazards.