HAZOP = systematic and detailed identification of hazardous/malfunctioning states of process devices (revealing potential causes and consequences), including inspection of safety functions used and formulation of precautions to decrease the risk level.
Essential presuppositions of HAZOP study:
- system approach to the assessed device,
- teamwork (brainstorming).
Contributions of HAZOP study:
- opportunity to assess the devices in various operation modes (regular operation, launching the device, shutting down the device),
- opportunity of assessment in a project stage (opportunity to apply construction corrections of the project – reduction of costs on future modifications/corrections of the device),
- opportunity to assess deviant situations – assessment of deviations in respect to confluence of potential failures on a single device, etc.
