Making the Most of Your PHA

A Process Hazard Analysis (PHA) is required to address OSHA Process Safety Management (PSM) and EPA Risk Management Program (RMP) regulations. Understanding the potential process hazard is widely recognized as a foundational element of PSM and RMP, and in addition to simply meeting regulatory requirements, can be a critical mechanism for flushing out potential vulnerabilities early in the design process for capital projects. Although an important activity, PHA is also recognized as a sizeable investment in time and energy for an Owner/Operator. So why not make the most of it?

Other important activities at plants such as Mechanical Integrity, Alarm Rationalization, and Management of Change are able to stay focused and possibly be streamlined (i.e., reduced cost) based on the ability to use the results of a quality PHA having the necessary information and usability of documentation. So why not structure the PHA and documentation to be able to capitalize on potentially significant cost-savings and possible program integration?

The thrust of this paper and conference presentation will be to identify tips for conducting and documenting the PHA to maximize its ability to be used for supporting other important programs such as MOC, MI, and Alarm Rationalization. The objective will be to allow PHA Coordinators to be able to readily apply these tips to bring about improvements and cost-savings on these interrelated programs.