RISK5002 Chap.3 HAZOP Studies and Risk Identification
HAZOP Studies and Risk Identification
Risk identification asks what could advance or block an organisation's objectives, and IEC 31010 offers a family of tools for it.
This chapter concentrates on the hazard and operability study, the lecture's worked identification technique: subdivide the system, agree the design intent and parameters of each element, apply guide words such as more, less, no, reverse, early and late, then trace every deviation to causes, consequences and agreed treatment. A cold-room example contrasts a weak answer with a complete one.
The chapter also covers the factors ISO 31000 asks you to consider when identifying risks, with examples for a regional airport, and drills the past exam pattern of describing HAZOP in the IEC structure and then applying it. The past exam weighting is worth remembering: describing the technique carried most of the marks and applying it carried the rest, so the chapter trains both.
It sets out the steps in the order a team would follow them, shows why the guide words and parameters are separate lists, and repairs a weak cold-room answer into a complete one. For the identification factors, it uses a regional airport and shows how linking factors, rather than listing them, demonstrates the analysis a marker looks for.
What this chapter covers
- 01
Identification technique families B1 to B3
- 02
HAZOP steps and design intent
- 03
Guide words and parameters
- 04
From deviation to treatment
- 05
Ten factors for identifying risk
- 06
Describing a technique in IEC structure
Worked example · free
Apply HAZOP guide words to a cold room
- +1Element and intent: cold-room cooling holding 2 to 5 degrees Celsius.
- +1Deviation: more temperature, the room reaches 9 degrees overnight; causes include a propped door or thermostat drift.
- +1Consequence: dairy stock exceeds its safe temperature and is discarded, with a food-safety risk if sold.
- +1Treatment and record: a door alarm, a high-temperature alert and quarterly calibration, each with an owner.
Key terms
- Design intent
- The expected performance of a system element, stated with its parameters.
- Guide word
- A prompt such as more, less or late applied to a parameter to suggest a deviation.
- Deviation
- A departure from design intent produced by applying a guide word to a parameter.
HAZOP Studies and Risk Identification FAQ
What is a HAZOP study used for?
It examines a process, procedure or system, at the design stage or in operation, to find deviations from its design intent and to trace their causes and consequences. It began in chemical processing and now extends to manufacturing, vehicles and human behaviour.
Are the HAZOP guide words paired with particular parameters?
No. The guide words and the parameters are separate lists. Any guide word can be applied to any parameter that matters for an element, so late can describe a delivery while more can describe a temperature or a speed.
Which factors should I consider when identifying risks?
ISO 31000 lists sources of risk, causes and events, threats and opportunities, changes in context, emerging-risk indicators, assets, consequences for objectives, limits of knowledge, time-related factors, and the biases of those involved, together with the relationships between them.
What are the main limitations of a HAZOP study?
A HAZOP study is time consuming and needs considerable effort from a team with real expertise in the system. Even a careful study cannot guarantee that every subsection has been examined, so some deviations may be missed. These limits are why organisations often combine HAZOP with other identification tools such as checklists or the structured what-if technique.
Exam move
Pick three everyday systems, such as a lift, a coffee machine and an online checkout, write a design intent for one element of each, and apply two guide words to each one with causes, consequences and treatments. Then rehearse the IEC description of HAZOP under its five headings until it fits in eight lines.
For identification factors, choose an organisation you know and write one specific example per factor plus two sentences linking factors. Time yourself writing a full HAZOP description in eight minutes and a two-deviation application in two, matching the split of the past exam, then compare your description with the five IEC headings to check nothing is missing.
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