Hazard Identification Hazard identification is a vital part of the workplace safety process. We offer a Hazard Identification service for those employers who don’t have the time, expertise or knowledge to undertake and document the process. We can simplify things for you with a package that identifies hazards, enters them in a Hazard Register, assesses the level of risk they pose and suggests ways of controlling them. The basics of the Hazard Identification process are listed here for your information.
HAZARD ID PROCESS Identification
Walk around your workplace
Identify actual and potential hazards
Ask yourself “what if……..?”
List the hazards
Risk Assessment Hazards are classified as Significant, Medium or Low risks
Significant Hazards – Ask yourself “Does this have the potential to kill or permanently disable someone?”
Medium Risk Hazards – Ask yourself “Does this have the potential to cause a serious injury or illness that will temporarily disable someone?”
Low Risk Hazards Ask Yourself “Does this have the potential to cause a minor injury that would not disable someone?”
Control Hazards must be controlled by Eliminating, Isolating or Minimising – In this order
List the hazards in your Hazard Register
Decide whether they are Significant, Medium or Low risks and decide how you will control them
The higher the risk, the more extensive the control measures need to be
Decide whether you can Eliminate, Isolate or Minimise the hazards and who will be responsible to do this
Advise all staff of the hazards and what you are doing about them
Monitor Hazards need to be monitored to ensure your control measures are effective. Specify a timeframe to do this – Daily, Weekly, Monthly etc.
New Hazards Encourage the reporting of new hazards and apply the same process to them as they arise.
What Is It? Hazard Identification and Risk Analysis (HIRA) is a collective term that encompasses all activities involved in identifying hazards and evaluating risk at facilities, throughout their life cycle, to make certain that risks to employees, the public, or the environment are consistently controlled within the organization’s risk tolerance. These studies typically address three main risk questions to a level of detail commensurate with analysis objectives, life cycle stage, available information, and resources. The three main risk questions are:
Hazard – What can go wrong?
Consequences – How bad could it be?
Likelihood – How often might it happen?
When answering these questions, the objective is to perform only the level of analysis necessary to reach a decision, because insufficient analysis may lead to poor decisions and excessive analysis wastes resources. A suite of tools is available to accommodate varying analysis needs: (1) tools for simple hazard identification or qualitative risk analysis include hazard and operability analysis (HAZOP), what-if/checklist analysis, and failure modes and effects analysis (FMEA), (2) tools for simple risk analysis include failure modes, effects, and criticality analysis (FMECA) and layer of protection analysis (LOPA), and (3) tools for detailed quantitative risk analysis include fault trees and event trees (Refs. 9.2, 9.3, 9.4). For example, some companies may judge the mere existence of an explosion hazard to be an unacceptable risk, regardless of its likelihood. Others may be willing to tolerate an explosion risk if proper codes and standards are followed. Still others may be unwilling to accept an explosion risk unless it can be shown that the expected frequency of explosions is less than 10-6/y. HIRA encompasses the entire spectrum of risk analyses, from qualitative to quantitative. A process hazard analysis (PHA) is a HIRA that meets specific regulatory requirements in the U.S. Figure 9.1 illustrates the increasing rigor of risk analyses possible as the scope of the study becomes more focused on specific accident scenarios. Note that as risk studies become more focused and detailed, the cost per scenario analyzed increases, but the overall cost may decrease if only a few representative or bounding scenarios are analyzed.
Why Is It Important? To manage risk, hazards must first be identified, and then the risks should be evaluated and determined to be tolerable or not. The earlier in the life cycle that effective risk analysis is performed, the more cost effective the future safe operation of the process or activity is likely to be. The risk understanding developed from these studies forms the basis for establishing most of the other process safety management activities undertaken by the facility. An incorrect perception of risk at any point could lead to either inefficient use of limited resources or unknowing acceptance of risks exceeding the true tolerance of the company or the community.
Where/When Is It Done? HIRA reviews may be performed at any stage in a project’s life cycle – conceptual design, preliminary design, detailed design, construction, ongoing operation, decommissioning, or demolition. In general, the earlier that a hazard is identified (e.g., during conceptual design), the more cost-effectively it can be eliminated or managed. Studies performed during the early design stages are typically done at corporate or engineering offices. Studies performed once a
process is near startup, during operation, or before decommissioning are typically done in a plant environment.
Who Does It? A HIRA study is typically performed by a team of qualified experts on the process, the materials, and the work activities. Personnel who have formal training on risk analysis methods usually lead these teams, applying the selected analysis technique(s) with subject matter experts from engineering, operations, maintenance, and other disciplines as needed. A simple early-in-life hazard identification study may be performed by a single expert; however, a multidisciplined team typically conducts more hazardous or complex process risk studies, especially during later life cycle stages. Involving operating and maintenance personnel early in the review process will help identify hazards when they can be eliminated or controlled most cost effectively. When the study is complete, management must then decide whether to implement any recommended risk reduction measures to achieve its risk goals.
What Is the Anticipated Work Product? The main process safety products of a risk system are: (1) guidelines for planning and conducting studies, (2) documented understanding of the risks of the process or activity, (3) documented risk tolerance criteria, (4) possible risk control measures, resolutions, and implemented actions, (5) documented understanding of the residual risks after control measures are taken, and (6) completed risk analysis reports. Other work products may include recommendations for improving asset integrity, procedures, and training as well as up-to-date action item tracking lists and risk communication materials. The scope of HIRAs is sometimes broadened to include operability issues, so the work products may also include recommendations to (1) improve quality and yield, (2) reduce equipment damage, and/or (3) reduce unplanned downtime. The results of risk studies are normally kept for the life of the process and are communicated to those who may be affected. Outputs of the risk element can also be used to facilitate the performance of other elements. For example, identifying potential accidents will help define scenarios the emergency element must address, and understanding the existing risks may enable the management of change element to identify the risks of a change.
How Is It Done? At each stage in the project life cycle, a review team questions process experts about possible hazards and judges the risk of any hazards that are identified. Several common methods exist for questioning a design, ranging from simple qualitative checklists to complex quantitative fault tree analyses (Refs. 9.2, 9.3, 9.4). The results of the review process are typically documented in a worksheet form, illustrated in Figure 9.2, which varies in detail, depending on the stage of the project and the evaluation method used. Risk studies on operating processes are typically updated or revalidated on a regular basis.
What is a hazard? The meaning of the word hazard can be confusing. Often dictionaries do not give specific definitions or combine it with the term "risk". For example, one dictionary defines hazard as "a danger or risk" which helps explain why many people use the terms interchangeably. There are many definitions for hazard but the more common definition when talking about workplace health and safety is: A hazard is any source of potential damage, harm or adverse health effects on something or someone under certain conditions at work. Basically, a hazard can cause harm or adverse effects (to individuals as health effects or to organizations as property or equipment losses). Sometimes a hazard is referred to as being the actual harm or the health effect it caused rather than the hazard. For example, the disease tuberculosis (TB) might be called a hazard by some but in general the TB-causing bacteria would be considered the "hazard" or "hazardous biological agent".
What are examples of a hazard? Workplace hazards can come from a wide range of sources. General examples include any substance, material, process, practice, etc that has the ability to cause harm or adverse health effect to a person under certain conditions. See Table 1. Table 1 Examples of Hazards and Their Effects Workplace Hazard Example of Hazard Thing Knife Substance Benzene Material Asbestos Source of Energy Electricity Condition Wet floor Process Welding Practice Hard rock mining
Example of Harm Caused Cut Leukemia Mesothelioma Shock, electrocution Slips, falls Metal fume fever Silicosis
As shown in Table 1, workplace hazards also include practices or conditions that release uncontrolled energy like:
an object that could fall from a height (potential or gravitational energy),
a run-away chemical reaction (chemical energy),
the release of compressed gas or steam (pressure; high temperature),
entanglement of hair or clothing in rotating equipment (kinetic energy), or
contact with electrodes of a battery or capacitor (electrical energy).
What is risk? Risk is the chance or probability that a person will be harmed or experience an adverse health effect if exposed to a hazard. It may also apply to situations with property or equipment loss. For example: The risk of developing cancer from smoking cigarettes could be expressed as "cigarette smokers are 12 times (for example) more likely to die of lung cancer than nonsmokers". Another way of reporting risk is "a certain number, "Y", of smokers per 100,000 smokers will likely develop lung cancer" (depending on their age and how many years they have been smoking). These risks are expressed as a probability or likelihood of developing a disease or getting injured, whereas hazards refer to the possible consequences (e.g., lung cancer, emphysema and heart disease from cigarette smoking). Factors that influence the degree of risk include:
how much a person is exposed to a hazardous thing or condition,
how the person is exposed (e.g., breathing in a vapour, skin contact), and
how severe are the effects under the conditions of exposure.
What is a risk assessment? Risk assessment is the process where you:
identify hazards,
analyze or evaluate the risk associated with that hazard, and
determine appropriate ways to eliminate or control the hazard.
The OSH Answers Risk Assessment has details on how to conduct an assessment and establish priorities.
What is an adverse health effect? A general definition of adverse health effect is "any change in body function or the structures of cells that can lead to disease or health problems". Adverse health effects include:
bodily injury,
disease,
change in the way the body functions, grows, or develops,
effects on a developing fetus (teratogenic effects, fetotoxic effects),
effects on children, grandchildren, etc. (inheritable genetic effects)
decrease in life span,
change in mental condition resulting from stress, traumatic experiences, exposure to solvents, and so on, and
effects on the ability to accommodate additional stress.
Will exposure to hazards in the workplace always cause injury, illness or other adverse health effects? Not necessarily. To answer this question, you need to know:
what hazards are present,
how a person is exposed (route of exposure, as well as how often and how much exposure occurred),
what kind of effect could result from the specific exposure a person experienced,
the risk (or likelihood) that exposure to a hazardous thing or condition would cause an injury, or disease or some incidence causing damage, and
how severe would the damage, injury or harm (adverse health effect) be from the exposure.
The effects can be acute, meaning that the injury or harm can occur or be felt as soon as a person comes in contact with the hazardous agent (e.g., a splash of acid in a person's eyes). Some responses to may be chronic (delayed). For example, exposure to poison ivy may cause red swelling on the skin two to six hours after contact with the plant. On the other hand, longer delays are possible: mesothelioma, a kind of cancer in the lining in the lung cavity, can develop over 20 years or more after exposure to asbestos. Once the hazard is removed or eliminated, the effects may be reversible or irreversible. For example, a hazard may cause an injury that can heal completely (reversible) or result in an untreatable disease (irreversible).
What types of hazards are there? A common way to classify hazards is by category:
biological - bacteria, viruses, insects, plants, birds, animals, and humans, etc.,
chemical - depends on the physical, chemical and toxic properties of the chemical.
ergonomic - repetitive movements, improper set up of workstation, etc.,
physical - radiation, magnetic fields, pressure extremes (high pressure or vacuum), noise, etc,
psychosocial - stress, violence, etc.,
safety - slipping/tripping hazards, inappropriate machine guarding, equipment malfunctions or breakdowns
Please use OSH Answers to find information about specific hazards and their control. If you are unable to find the information you are looking for, please consider using our subscription products, or contacting our free Inquiries Service for more assistance.
