INTRODUCTION

The European Community 'Framework Directive' required all EC states to bring in national health and safety legislation by the end of 1992. Among many requirements, the responsibility to carry out assessment of workplace risks is placed on employers. This requirement was enacted in UK as the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1992. The requirements of this regulation include the recording of risk assessments by any employer with more than 5 employees. This move by the EC has been followed in countries around the world. In South Africa the Occupational Health and Safety Act 1993 contains very similar requirements.

The Health and Safety Executive in UK have defined the steps required in a risk assessment as:

They accept that the risk evaluation may show that the risk is not significant, in which case no further action is required. It would be prudent, however, to record all identified hazards, and then note that certain risks are considered not significant.

Hazard and Operability (HAZOP) Studies have been used in many industries for over 20 years, as a means of hazard identification and control. As the name suggests, they are not aimed exclusively at safety hazards, but are a true loss control tool. Most teams also identify problems related to quality, efficiency and throughput restriction as well as accidental damage to plant and machinery. The technique was originally developed by ICI in UK for use in design studies of chemical and petrochemical plants, and was published through the Chemical Industries Association (UK) for general use. It was taken up by many industries, and its use is now worldwide.

In a recent paper ^[1] I defined the objectives of a HAZOP study as:

1. To identify all potential causes of process upset scenarios which could lead to significant safety or operability consequences.
2. To decide whether the current design ensures that the risk from each identified scenario is at a suitably low level.
3. If not, to recommend modifications which will reduce the risk to a suitably low level, or specify a further study to investigate the issue, with the objective of identifying a suitable modification.

These objectives tie in very nicely with the risk assessment requirements implicit in the new legislation, so it would appear very simple to meet the requirements with a HAZOP study. Unfortunately my experience suggests that most HAZOP reports would not demonstrate that the requirements have been met, so we need to use the modified approach suggested in this paper.