Process hazard analysis: It is a systematic approach used to identify hazard, accident, or

scenarios from a process.

PHA usages and Benefits: The analysis pinpoints weaknesses in the design and operation and
provides information to help improve safety, which will reduce all types of risks and provide
management with a solid technical basis upon which to plan for long term, profitable business.

Objectives for conducting PHA

1. Identify the hazards inherent; identify the credible failures likely to lead to accident
scenarios; evaluate the consequences and likelihood of the various scenarios.
2. Propose changes where warranted to equipment design, process conditions, and
operating procedures to mitigate the risk to a tolerable level; and document the PHA
study in a sufficiently complete, accurate, and concise manner

Factors for selecting PHA techniques

Motivation for the study; Type of results needed; Type of information available to
perform the study; Characteristics of the analysis problem; Perceived risk associated with
the subject processor activity; Resource availability and analyst/management preference;
Amount of experience available with the technology involved; and Organization and/or
industry accident/incident experience.

PHA Techniques
1. Safety Reviews (formal & Informal)
2. Checklist Analysis: list of possible problems and areas to be checked.
3. Relative Ranking Analysis – The Dow Fire and Explosion Index
4. Preliminary Hazard Analysis: identify possible hazards from a very initial stage,
preferably at the design stage of the plant or the facility.
5. What-If Analysis: identify hazardous situations or specific accident scenarios that
could produce an undesired hazardous event.
6. Hazard and Operability Study (HAZOP): a formal procedure to identify hazards
in a chemical process facility.
7. Failure Modes and Effects Analysis: evaluates how equipment can fail and the
effect these failures can have on an installation.
8. Fault Tree Analysis (FTA): the exact sequence of primary and intermediate event
failures likely to lead to a top event failure.
9. Event Tree Analysis (ETA): examine the possible consequences of an initial
undesired event.
10. Human Reliability Analysis (HRA): Success Likelihood Index Methodology to
evaluate the probability of a human error occurring throughout the completion of
a specific task.