Each company that chooses to use LOPA needs its own specific procedure.

The LOPA
procedure must include tables for initiating cause likelihoods and PFDs for various
types of
IPLs [13]. It is important that they have defined risk tolerance criteria
beforehand; otherwise
it will be difficult to make risk-based decisions. The LOPA procedure must have
clear rules
with which to evaluate safeguards to determine if they qualify as IPLs. Many of
these rules
are available in the CCPS LOPA book [3], including requirements for effectiveness,
independence, and auditability. The company should also establish the minimum
requirements for LOPA team composition and training for LOPA facilitators. The team
should consist of the [6]:
- operator with experience operating the process under consideration;
- engineer with experience in the process;
- manufacturing management;
- process control engineer;
- instrument/ electrical maintenance person with experience in the process under
consideration;
- risk analysis (LOPA) specialist.
It is important that one on the team is trained in the LOPA methodology.
LOPA is based on the assessment of single event-consequence scenarios. A scenario
consists
of an initiating cause and a consequence (initial event). There are multiple
initiating causes
that can lead to the same consequence, and all these causes must be used to develop
scenarios
for subsequent assessment. LOPA is a rational methodology that allows rapid, cost-
effective
means for identifying the IPLs that lower the frequency and/or the consequence of
specific
hazardous incidents [1]. It is typically applied after a qualitatively hazard
analysis has been
completed, but before the quantitative analysis like fault tree or QRA. Since LOPA
uses
simplifying assumptions and approximations, it is not intended to be either a
complex or a
high level of detail decision tool. It is most effective when one need a general
approximation
of risk and the associated opportunities for mitigation of those risks. It is a
method that is
intended to be conservative. Figure 6 illustrates the LOPA process.