eHazOp/SAFOP

eHazOp/SAFOP study is used to assess safety and operability on an existing or planned electrical power system (eHazOp is the name given from international community, SAFOP is the name chosen by a big O&G company, and Eidos client, that gained a widespread use).

The goals that eHazOp/SAFOP study wants to achieve are:

• Assess and minimise potential hazards to personnel in the nearby of electrical installations
• Provide a safety review of both the network and the plant design and pinpoint any issue related with safety and operability of whole electrical system
• Provide a review of operators’ tasks and the level of knowledge and training required.
• Review the instructions given to the operators (or define the minimum set of instructions required in case of the study of planned installation)
• Identify areas of improvements to reduce the impact of human errors (in magnitude or frequency)

To reach the goals afore-mentioned an eHazOp/SAFOP study is composed of three analysis:

• SAfety ANAlysis (SAFAN): similar in method to a HazId analysis, the SAFAN is carried on using keywords and promptwords and focusing on three different targets for each issue (outside personnel, non-electrical staff, electrical staff). This assessment has to be applied to construction, commissioning and operation
• Safety and Operability Analysis (SYSOP, no acronym here!): similar in method to HazOp analysis, the SYSOP use parameters and promptwords to identify and evaluate deviation from standard operation. Each deviation is studied filling the causes, consequences, safeguards and recommendations fields.
• OPerator Task Analysis (OPTAN): this analysis focuses on operators and the tasks they are called to perform. To prepare this analysis the main duties will be splitted in key tasks that need to be paired to knowledge, procedure and training (done or to be planned).

If eHazOp/SAFOP is performed on an existing plant the analysis can be developed together (best approach asks for SAFAN first, SYSOP later and OPTAN last).

If eHazOp/SAFOP is performed on a planned plant, these studies can be developed once the information needed for each among them is available. Typically OPTAN is developed once SAFAN and SYSOP are completed and “frozen”.

Of course nothing will forbid using only one or two of the three different analysis in case, for example, operator tasks definition is out of SoW of the engineering company appointed with the design.