1. Hazard Review Services:  Process hazard analysis (PHA), hazard and operability (HAZOP) analysis, What-if analysis, failure more effect analysis, identification of safety integrity level (SIL) for safety instrumented systems (SIS), project risk reviews, etc.

   PII staff have led more than 250 major PHAs/HAZOPs and revalidations and we co-authored the definitive textbook on these analyses and published many papers on the topic as well.

• Lead and document the PHA/hazard evaluations of each phase of a large project (such as a new process). It is never a good idea to let your equipment vendor, technology licensor, or construction contractor lead the PHAs for a new process (project); they have a conflicting interest to maintain budget and schedule. Also, they rarely have qualified (and probably none have expert) PHA leaders on staff. The industry best practice is to have someone from outside of the project team lead the PHA meetings. If you have a qualified leader within your plant, then it is ideal to use that person. If not, your only wise alternatives are (1) borrow a leader from somewhere else within your company (if possible) or (2) contract a leader who is both expert in PHAs and independent of the project team. PII has many expert PHA leaders (and scribes/secretaries) who can fill this role for you.

• Lead and document the PHA/hazard evaluations of existing (older) process. Again, if you have qualified leaders and scribes within your plant, then it is ideal to use those persons to lead and document the PHAs that must be done for your existing facilities. If not, you can (1) borrow a leader from somewhere else within your company or (2) contract a leader. PII has many expert PHA leaders (and scribes/secretaries) who can fill this role for you. Using a PHA leader from PII in this role is also an excellent way to show, by example, how PHAs should be led and documented, thereby providing further training to your staff in this important skill.

• Coach your PHA leaders through their first PHA. Over the 20 years that we have been training PHA leaders (both when we worked in chemical plants and since we’ve been a consultant), coaching has proven to be a critical factor in producing a good PHA leader.  After a person completes PHA classroom training, they have indeed learned a lot.  But, to become an efficient and thorough PHA leader requires considerable experience in leading actual PHAs.  This learning period can be very costly to your company; costly both in time wasted during the PHA and costly in missed hazards.  Thus, industry has found it is best if the new graduate learns from existing experts; this is the “coaching” portion of PHA leadership training.  PII course instructors and our expert PHA leaders make excellent coaches.  They can demonstrate how to prepare for PHA meetings, how to effectively lead the hazard review meetings, and how to document the results in a useable PHA report. 

Example:  We have served in this role at many facilities where the PII coach worked with new graduates of PHA Leadership training.  This is usually accomplished by letting the instructor choose the best leaders and scribes from recently completed classroom training.  Although this approach as worked around the world, let me use a specific example from a country where doing PHAs/HAZOP is newer:  In Saudi Arabia, this approach was successfully used at SHARQ (a large petrochemical and polyolefin production facility in Jubail) and at the Royal Commission of Yanbu (which operates the sea water supply for cooling, electrical utility, and natural gas utility for all industries in Yanbu).  In each organization, we first had one week of classroom training.  Then, the top 6 graduates were divided into 3 pairs (a leader and scribe made up each pair).  The instructor then coached these three pairs of recent PHA course graduates as each pair prepared for and led their first PHA (using actual drawings, SOPs, and team members from their companies).  This coaching was accomplished while three separate PHAs/HAZOP meetings were in progress; the coaching took 2 weeks.  Then, we provided a coach a few months later to review the draft report and meet with the team leaders and scribes (to help the leaders and scribes resolve any remaining weaknesses identified by the coach)  This approach worked very well to produce good PHA results while also producing well trained PHA leaders.  The result today is that these two organizations now have well trained PHAs leaders and no longer require outside assistance on PHAs.  And, these skilled PHA leaders and scribes are able to pass on their experience to new leaders and scribes, thereby reducing the need to use outsiders as trainers.

• Follow this link to Hazard Review services to find out more about how PII can help your company.

2. Perform Layer of Protection Analysis (LOPA).   PII staff co-authored the AIChE guideline book (2001) on Layer of Protection Analysis (LOPA).  This is the primary tool endorse by industry for determining if the risk of an accident scenario is low enough.  PII staff also developed the first training course in 1994 on how to apply LOPA.  We have performed hundreds of LOPA for various needs, including resolving complex recommendations from PHA teams and determining SIL for SIS. 

3. Identify Safety Integrity Level (SIL) for a Safety Instrumented System.  During PHAs/HAZOPs, or as a stand-alone task, PII is expert at determining the SIL necessary for an accident scenario.  We are very efficient at doing this since we pioneered the LOPA methodology as part of the industry effort to develop and implement the SIS standards (ISA S84.01 in 1996 and then IEC 61508/61511 in 2000).  But, PII can help with all aspects of SIS implementation To find out how PII can help with all steps of SIS implementation listed below, follow the link:

   • SIF/SIL Determination

   • SIF Specification

   • SIF Design

   • SIL Verification

   • SIS Installation

   • SIS Functional Checks

4. Coach new procedure writers. Following classroom training on how to write effective procedures, it is usually best to team with our experts to help organize the procedure writing task(s) and to make sure the writers are off to a good start. We have provided this service many times for operations and maintenance/reliability departments. This coaching can take 3 to 5 days initially, with some follow-on assistance on an as needed basis. Usually, the follow-on assistance can be given by phone an e-mail. We can also provide staff to supplement plant personnel in actually writing operating and maintenance procedures.

5. Assist in or lead incident investigations or root cause analyses. We hope you never have accidents, but if you need help in an investigation of a near hit or an accident, we are ready to help your team find all of the causes and all of the root causes. We have trained more than 3000 investigators, and like newly trained PHA leaders, newly trained investigators need coaching initially as well. Also, sometimes you may want an independent investigation to ensure you are getting all the problems at your facility. We have led over 100 investigations of major accidents (in chemical processes and other processes), and can help you find all of the causes and root causes.

6. Assist in developing inspection, test, and preventive maintenance plans and equipment reliability programs. We have a network of 6 of the world experts on system reliability; they have authored much of the definitive papers, courses, and textbooks on the topic. One or more of them can help you apply risk-based thought processes to determine which reliability task is best and how often the task should be performed to achieve the system reliability you require. They can either guide you or else work hand-in-hand with your staff to develop and initially implement effective protocols to reduce failures of equipment and processes.

7. Assess your PSM programs or help you develop and implement PSM programs. We are expert at effective implementation of all parts of PSM. We have helped develop some of the best management of change (MOC), Incident Investigation, pre-startup safety review (PSSR), operating procedures, mechanical integrity, employee participation, and other programs in the industry. And, we can help you develop and implement key performance indicators (most importantly, leading indicators) so that you will be able to track the progress of PSM at your site/affiliate on a week-by week and month-by-month basis. These efforts will help your plant get the most out of implementing PSM and will help ensure that you have minimal issues at audit time.

So, regardless of your needs in Safety, PSM, risk management, or process reliability, we have the expertise and staff to assist you. Feel free to contact us so that we can work with you to develop the best plan to meet your needs.

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