Does my HAZOP need to be carried out independently and what are potential independence issues?
What are independence issues?
Independence issues in HAZOP facilitation can come in a few different forms.
- Some companies carry out studies internally, facilitated by in house personnel. It’s possible there are pressures on these in house personnel based on project timelines or budgets which may bias the study.
- Many design companies claim to be able to carry out HAZOPs and other hazard studies as part of their overall design package scope. Often these companies can a vested interest in the design process, making them unsuitable for facilitation.
Why independent HAZOP facilitation matters
When having specialist work carried out which assesses risk and makes recommendations for improvements it is critical that this work is carried out independently of anyone with a vested interest, or any kind of bias. A lack of independence can lead to sub optimal outcomes, increased project costs and sometimes less safe designs.
One of the key benefits of a hazard study (HAZID, HAZOP, LOPA etc.) is that a fresh pair of independent eyes are able to assess the risks of the operations proposed with the design. If the assessor has bias either in favour for the operator (e.g. a HAZOP carried out in house) or the designer (e.g. a HAZOP carried out by the design company) there is a real risk of a conflict of interest. Some examples of some bad outcomes include:
- Recommendations not being made which would otherwise have been included by an independent facilitator.
- Recommendations being made to include design elements, or push the design in a particular direction, to the benefit of the design company.
How to avoid conflict of interest and independence issues
One of the easiest ways to avoid conflict of interest or independence issues is to be clear from the start of the project what your expectations are.
For internal indpendence issues, if you must have internal facilitation ensure that the personnel are not line managed by any of the project team, and don’t have any pressures on them regarding timescales or budgets for the overall project. We would always recommend you go external for facilitation, but if internal facilitation is a must you could always consider getting a third party review of the output, to confirm there are no glaring missing scenarios.
An alternative could be to bring in an independent process engineer to sit in the HAZOP team, to provide a degree of independence even if this is not in a facilitation role.
For projects with external design teams when scoping a new project, whatever phase of design you may be in, ensure that safety studies are always separated from the main scope as a separate line item.
This allows for some key benefits:
- Allowing your design contractor to quote for the work, but requiring it to be shown to be by an independent facilitation team and having a clear cost which can be compared against alternative quotes.
- Allowing you to go for separate quotes and compare “apples with apples” ensuring you are getting a competitive quotation from all parties.
Independence is a wonderful thing
Having a truly independent expert in the room providing facilitation is truly a wonderful thing. Being able to draw on the expertise, experience and viewpoint of a trained professional who works with many different clients across varying industries allows a completely fresh perspective on the risks of a process.
OTECSA are the UKs largest independent process safety consultancy, and proud to support our clients across the UK and beyond on process safety studies, independently of any operating, commercial or design bias or pressures. This allows us to give our clients honest, clear advice and recommendations without fear that there may be some ulterior motive or upsell at the end of it.
Have a think next time you’re in a HAZOP – is this facilitation team really taking an independent view of things?