(57ab) The Importance of Process Hazard Analysis in the Prevention and Mitigation of Process Safety Incidents

Process safety incidents can be caused by a number of different reasons. The aim of this paper is to review the common issues associated with the Process Hazard Analysis (PHA) process that led to process safety incidents.

Authors in the past have reviewed incident investigations to determine the main causes of incidents and in some cases further analysed the data to determine the frequency each cause had in an incident. In conducting this analysis, incident investigation reports have been used either from the United States Chemical Safety and Hazard Identification Board (CSB), books or other published investigations.

PHAs play an important part in risk management as it identifies potential hazards and ensures that sufficient safeguards are available to reduce the likelihood of a hazardous event to a tolerable level. It is therefore important for facilities to understand the importance of PHAs and how a poorly conducted PHA can lead to a process safety incident. By highlighting the most common issues with PHA studies, facilities can review their own studies to determine if they have any deficiencies in common.