Leveraging the Success of Accelerative Learning and PHAs

The concept of Accelerative Learning has been known and practiced for several decades. This technique has proved to be a very welcome tool for adult learning, time and time again. This concept has been widely applied in the industries in lieu of the conventional classroom training methods, and its results have benefitted in achieving success for various corporations. The success has meant that the audience has improved their engagement in the class, embraced the challenging topics, increased the awareness and helping in bringing about a mind shift in some cases, through this learning exercise

On the other hand, Process hazard analysis (PHA), have also been in existence for the past few decades. Some of its methodologies are preferred over the other for level of details, and are preferred over the other for its brevity and time saving feature. These are always conducted in a workshop environment, and its success is dependent on the level of engagement and preparation. Meanwhile, the sessions can also become a victim on team that has been reluctant to participate for various reasons.

The last decade 2010-2019 has come with its set of challenges. Industries cut back on various workshops due to the financial crunch, due to their ever shrinking budgets and also the economic downturn in the oil & gas industry, which led to a cascading effect in other industries. This led to changes in industry approaches being altered to focus on “More with Less”. One emergent outcome of this need, was the philosophy of Smart PHAs or Smart HAZOPs

The author has applied the concepts of AL to PHAs, and has changed the way the PHAs are facilitated in a workshop environment. This has resulted in higher level of personnel engagement, that has fostered the brain storming needs of a PHAs, and has left the audience highly energized after the PHA sessions, such that they want to return for me. Through this paper, the author will share the success stories while highlighting the benefits of this hybrid technique.