Elements Common To All Process Hazard Analyses

DOE-HDBK-1100-2004

and establishing a tracking system to monitor implementation. Computer spreadsheets and

databases have been used successfully for this purpose. Operating management should review

all open corrective action items and activities on a regular basis, such as quarterly. Establishing

a system for resolving action items and safety recommendations is discussed in Section 6.

3.2

Elements Common To All Process Hazard Analyses

This section presents "how-to" approaches for subjects common to all PrHA methods. The PSM

Rule requires that every PrHA include these activities.

Identify process hazards.

Review previous incidents.

Analyze engineering and administrative controls and consequences of

control failures.

Consider facility siting.

Address human factors.

Evaluate effects of incidents on employees.

Decide when action items are warranted.

3.2.1 Identify Process Hazards

A process hazard is an inherent chemical or physical characteristic with the energy potential for

damaging people, property, and/or the environment. The key word in this definition is potential.

In a process or system, hazards are not always obvious. Energy may be stored in many

different forms, including chemical (reactivity, flammability, corrosivity, toxicity), mechanical

(kinetic, potential) and thermal.4 Hazards exist whenever a system is above or below an ambient

energy level, regardless of how the energy is stored. For example, for the process parameter of

pressure, the ambient condition is atmospheric pressure. The higher the system pressure is

above atmospheric, the greater the stored energy and the greater the hazard. A system pressure

below atmospheric (i.e., a vacuum) can also pose hazards, such as the potential for collapse of a

storage tank.

Table 3.1 presents a list of hazards commonly found in process operations, grouped according to

how energy is stored. It can be used as a starting point to develop a checklist for identifying

process hazards. However, the list is not exhaustive. Thus, a PrHA team may have to augment

it as they consider the unique hazards of the process they are analyzing.

The following five steps should be taken to help identify hazards:

Nuclear energy, another source of hazards at DOE facilities, is not addressed in this document.