Online HAZOPs: Lessons from Lockdown
In India, at various States the lockdown finished few months prior and keeping in mind that a few of us have gotten back to some type of 'ordinariness' in the working environment, there is no question that the Covid-19 pandemic and resulting lockdowns have reformed the manner in which most of us work. Less than two years prior there were no discussions encompassing the up-sides and negatives of telecommuting versus the workplace, now everybody is preferring to have virtual group gatherings and meetings instead of actual workplace meetings. We call this as new normal for the meetings and the gatherings. In most of the company where no actual visits are required, employees try to complete the works and discussions on virtual meetings, nowadays most of the associations/ groups are also havening virtual conferences for the various speeches/ lectures and marketing work. Initially for few months this virtual meetings was slightly difficult for the most of us but as times goes, we have become more comfortable with such virtual meetings and gatherings. Now most of us came to that how we, our functioning lives and the manner in which numerous ventures work now have changed for great.
Toward the beginning of the First strict lockdown, we, in the same way as other in the business, needed to reconsider and redesign the manner in which most of us work and the manner in which we offer customers our various process safety consulting services like HAZOP, HAZID, QRAs, Hazardous Area Classifications and so on. We all know Safety should not stop due to the various restrictions of this pandemic lockdowns which causes various restrictions for the actual meetings ate the site for providing solutions for the various process safety issues in the process plants. During period of strict restrictions for the actual meetings and travel restriction in various states, as most of us started working remotely we have also started offering our consulting services through virtual meetings for the discussions, we started offering services like online HAZOPs, Online HAC and others to fulfill the process safety needs of various clients. Online HAZOPs turned into the most effective way for the having multi-disciplinary expertise to discuss process safety related issues of the process plants. All in all, in the wake of advancing and undertaking numerous web-based HAZOPs recently and in last one and half year, what have we realized? That we wanted to share in this articles.
A HAZOP study is one of the most well-known and Systematic Process Hazard Analysis tool/ method for analyzing the different process parameters deviations in the selected system for the HAZOP. HAZOP not only addresses the Hazards associated with the process deviations it also includes the operability issues of the plant as its name “Hazard and Operability (HAZOP) Study”. Initially created to inspect different Hazards of the process plant by the Imperial Chemical Industries (ICI) in the 1960s, the prominence of this process hazard analysis tool spread up after the Flixborough incident. After an incident most of the companies are worried and become more concern about the safety of the process plants since most of the process incidents can cause severe harm to the process plant asset, safety of the people working in the plant and population surrounding the plant, plant reputation in the market and environmental hazards on the air quality, nearby water bodies etc.
As companies are obliged to secure workers during routine activities, the siting of new offices/ facilities and during the change of a current plant conditions, equipment and process parameters, a HAZOP study is the best PHA tools to address these effect of this system related changes in the process plant. In HAZOP we fundamentally survey the danger of the process parameters deviations on the Plant resource, Environment, Operator working in the plant/representatives and hazard to the company reputations. This is a subjective techniques for investigating hazard related with the interaction process parameter deviations if it occurs due to any relevant or feasible cause.
A HAZOP can be performed at different lifecycle of the process plant - beginning from introductory pilot scale improvement through Front End plan and during commissioning. It can likewise be utilized during any continuous alterations during functional life expectancy. All hazards arising from the process parameter deviations are adequately addressed by the HAZOP, due to its systematic approach for discussing the causes of the deviations and existing safeguards available in system, hence HAZOP has became the most popular and easy to use tool to identify the hazards of the process plants.
It is normally suggested to undertake a HAZOP study when all detailed design information like P&ID are fixed, process description is finalized and cause & effect is developed. The HAZOP then starts by dividing this P&IDs of complex processing facility into small unit operations i.e. node for the HAZOP study. Set of different deviation guidewords (e.g., more, less, no etc.) is applied to the design parameters/ conditions (e.g. temperature, flow, composition etc.) within the nodes. Following is the typical Block diagram showing the procedure of HAZOP study.
HAZOP studies are the brainstorming session with multi-disciplinary expertise team exercises that rely on the collective knowledge of a team. This multidisciplinary team usually consists of a group of dedicated and experienced representative from different departments of the plant like instrumentations, process/ operations, maintenance, and design engineer etc.
This team will then have brainstorming session during a HAZOP study led by a facilitator (HAZOP leader or chair) regarding the different parameters in the process. During the session, the HAZOP leader will manage the momentum of the group during the discussion by keeping the group focused on the relevant deviation discussion and will control any unnecessary diversion from the point that is being discussed during study session. During the discussion, , all the relevant points or outcomes are noted/ captured by a HAZOP scribe in a systematic standard template/ format called HAZOP worksheet.
This is where the lockdown challenge the way we used to work before the pandemic. How can get together a multidisciplinary team of the plant and consultant that may consist of groups that do not usually work together and, in some cases, may live in different locations and how can we share documents and other related data/ information? During the actual session at the plant most of the data is available with the different plant person in their own department mostly in form of hard copies and may be in others forms. Some time the inputs can be taken from the plants also by visual observations.
Since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic and strict restriction on the travel and meetings/ gatherings, arranging and conducting online HAZOP studies was the only feasible and viable solution. As most of us ( communities and companies) were suddenly placed under lockdown, have multiple restriction due to the pandemic. Most of started working from home so demand was placed to conduct HAZOP studies virtually/ online. Sigma-HSE was one of the companies to start conducting online HAZOP studies during the pandemic using online meeting platforms such as Microsoft Teams, Go to meetings, Google meet etc.
Online HAZOP Study Challenges
Generally, a web-based HAZOP study like the conventional HAZOP, however there are a few provisos. These generally includes the use of technology and alternate online behaviours, here in India we most of us were not well familiar with the use of different online tolls like Microsoft teams. Google meets etc. here we used to be more comfortable with working on sites and having actual meetings prior to the Covid 19 Pandemic. But this pandemic changes the way most of us works and in a way forced us to work remotely on different projects whenever possible. After undertaking multiple online HAZOP studies over the last two years, followings are some findings from the experience:
Similarly as traditional HAZOP, all relevant data required for the study (for example P&ID, Process Description, Cause & Effect Matrix, equipment specifications etc.) needed to be electronically circulated so all HAZOP team members are familiar with the scope of the study and system which is to be analysed during the HAZOP. At the beginning of the pandemic availability of all data in digital format was a main concern across most industries. With the sudden change in the way we all used to work, the key challenge was the to convert the data into digital format and then circulate documents electronically to all team members. During this pandemic most of the companies started to generate and convert existing hard copy of the information in digital formats using technology in form of PDF, JPEG, PNG, Word.
One more is the most important point for having effective remote assessment/ discussion is reliable and fast internet connection. This has become one of a prerequisite for the virtual studies. Any network disruption or poor internet connection may disturb the momentum of the discussion during the study sessions and may be difficult for the team to complete study in stipulated time. At the starting during start of the pandemic undertaking online HAZOPs, we all have experienced challenges, as some participants in sessions faced poor internet connection issues. Although these issues were not major as per our experience, they did create some lag, However, our facilitator/ HAZOP Charmain was able to maintain the momentum of session through these specific challenges and most of the sessions were completed successfully.
Ensuring that all team members are comfortable and familiar with the online platform by which the online HAZOP studies will be conducted was one more important point. Now most companies are using online platforms like Microsoft Teams, Zoom and Google Hangouts to have interactions internally within the company, but at the start of the pandemic, participants have had to download, install, and get to know how to use different tools for the communications. Although many of these tools behave in similar ways, difficulties arose due to each tool’s interfaces. Familiarity with IT systems and virtual communication have been improved and most of us are now very comfortable to use platforms for team meetings.
Communicating digitally is slightly different to that in real life, and as a result, virtual communication etiquette has and continues to be, a bit challenging. There are many behavioural factors that can ensure that online HAZOP meetings run smoothly. Do you keep your camera on or off? Should you mute yourself when you’re not talking? What do you do if the there is some background disturbance at our side? While behaviour doesn’t directly relate to the overall outputs of an online HAZOP, if digital etiquette is not followed, it can certainly become an issue to the momentum and flow of the HAZOP session. Again, an online HAZOP leader or chair can manage the workshop through these specific challenges.
As the online HAZOP participants were remotely located, team fatigue and interactions were not as easily understood when compared to the traditional HAZOP. Body language and nonverbal cues were not as visible through a computer screen as they usually are when completed face-to-face. Through trial and error, we at Sigma-HSE managed to optimise online HAZOP sessions via the following formula. Optimal sessions were carried out for 4-6 hours a day, with frequent breaks to help ensure that all team members are active, responsive, and able to manage ‘screen’ fatigue. We also conduct a pre-session introduction and briefing meeting (3 days before the session) with all team members. In this short meeting, all participants are instructed on the Process, P&IDs, operating procedures, interlocks, and HAZOP procedure/ worksheet formats. This ultimately helped all team members to study relevant materials and understand the main points of discussion before the HAZOP session began.
Some advantage of the online HAZOP study is that sessions can be conducted from different locations, no travelling is required for any team member, data can be easily shared if it is available in digital format. This could permit members from various time regions to be available during the discussion. Although this is a huge advantage for global businesses that may have employees working from around the world, the timing of such sessions should be arranged suitably.
Online HAZOP sessions have also become easier and comfortable to manage and arrange as compared to the traditional onsite HAZOP. As many complex projects will have different stake holders present at different operating sites or countries, during onsite HAZOP it is difficult to have all stake holders at the location due to various issues related to availability and travel requirement. Now in online HAZOP most of the stake holder can give their scheduled time for the sessions from their working locations and no need to travel to the site which required higher number of man-day requirements and also affect their other working schedules. For onsite HAZOP depends on the complexities of project, it can take months to organise a date, time, and location to meet on site for the team , but now for Online HAZOP it is became easier and quick process since the session can be arranged at flexible schedule and as per team availability. At Sigma-HSE, we have experienced that the time required to schedule an session and complete the project almost half due to flexibility of the online HAZOP.
For Online HAZOP, consultant and team presence on site is not a required, hence organizations have been able to reduce the costs associated with travel and stay arrangements for consultants and team members at the site.
HAZOP leaders from Sigma HSE:
We Sigma-HSE India private limited offers On site as well as online HAZOP services via extensively experience HAZOP facilitators. Our HAZOP Facilitators are having have a extensive knowledge and expertise in leading HAZOP studies for a different type of manufacturing industries like oil & gas, petrochemical, pharmaceutical and food & beverage etc.
Our HAZOP Facilitators can aid in leading a HAZOP team towards high-quality process safety solutions by having adequate brainstorming of the teams. Most of our HAZOP facilitators are not part of an operating organisation for which HAZOP is being performed, their decision-making processes remain unbiased for the organization. This provides actionable key insights in identifying loop holes which may easily be overlooked operating organisation. Our independent consultants also challenge existing wrong practices followed in the plant and induce the team to have discussion for more appropriate solutions for the issues in the plant.
We Sigma HSE also offers other online consulting services line HAZID, What-If, LOPA sessions, FERA, QRA, Dispersion and Consequence Modelling, HAC, ATEX and DSEAR assessments for all new plants or upcoming sections of the plant.
