Hazard Identification and Risk Assessment (HIRA) Natural Gas Production and Refining Company, UK

OIL & GAS

Ref: PS0108

Project Summary Hazard Identification and Risk Assessment (HIRA) Natural Gas Production & Refining Company, UK

Key Project Elements

Review of project

documentation

Agreement of the HIRA

methodology with the Client

Act as Chairperson for the

Hazard Identification and

Risk Assessment (HIRA)

Preparation of HIRA report,

in conjunction with the HIRA

Secretary

CRA is providing ongoing consultancy services to a gas production and refining

company in the UK, including chairing Hazard Identification and Risk Assessment

(HIRA) studies. Hazard Identification and Risk Assessment (HIRA) provides a formal

method for the identification of hazards and the assessments of risks that have the

potential to adversely affect people, assets and the environment. The documented

HIRA provides the Duty Holder with a means of assessing the hazards and risks

associated with a particular installation or operation, sharing the information with

personnel and demonstrating that the risks have been reduced to an acceptable level.

CRA consultants chair their client’s HIRA study meetings, during which a systematic assessment of processes and/or operations and maintenance activities is carried out in order to:

Ensure all events with potential to cause harm are identified

Identify possible causes and consequences

Assess consequences and likelihoods to determine risk levels

Identify all risk reduction measures

Estimate the overall risk

Assign corrective actions to responsible persons.

As HIRA Chairperson, CRA are also responsible for coordinating hazard identification (HazId) operations, including presenting an overview of the HazId methodology to the team; leading the HazId whilst keeping the assessment on track technically and to schedule; and ensuring that relevant information contained in the approved HazId list of Guidewords and risk matrix is covered. Documentation to be utilised during HazId is prepared in advance, to reduce the likelihood of interruptions to the session. Typical documentation includes:

Project objectives

Criticality of the plant and individual sub elements

Process flow schematics / P&ID’s

Preliminary facility layout

Operating / maintenance philosophy

Cause and Effect tables

Details of the local infrastructure

Environmental sensitivities

Upon completion of the HIRA study CRA prepare a report with the client’s HIRA secretary. This contains an overview of the project / operation; a comprehensive record of the hazards identified and their risk ranking; individual action sheets assigned to responsible persons and HIRA Action Tracker, to enable the HIRA sponsor to track remedial actions to completion.