Category: Risk identification & assessment · Reviewed by Taylor Watts, Broker · New Business · Last reviewed
A Hazard and Operability (HAZOP) study is a structured, team-based technique for identifying hazards and operability problems in process systems. It was developed by ICI in the 1960s and is now the standard hazard-identification method in the petrochemical, pharmaceutical, oil-and-gas and process-engineering industries. It is codified in IEC 61882.
A multidisciplinary team systematically examines each “node” of a piping and instrumentation diagram (P&ID) by applying guide words to each design parameter:
| Guide word | Meaning |
|---|---|
| No / None | Negation of the design intent |
| More | Quantitative increase |
| Less | Quantitative decrease |
| As well as | Qualitative increase |
| Part of | Qualitative decrease |
| Reverse | Logical opposite |
| Other than | Substitution |
For each combination of guide word + parameter (e.g. “No flow”, “More pressure”, “Reverse flow”), the team identifies possible causes, consequences, existing safeguards and required actions.
A HAZOP report documents every deviation considered, even those rejected, and forms an auditable record. This makes HAZOP particularly valuable as evidence in COMAH (Control of Major Accident Hazards) submissions and insurer engineering surveys.
For major-hazard property and liability risks (refineries, chemical plants, LNG terminals), insurers and reinsurers will expect HAZOP study reports as part of the underwriting submission. Quality of HAZOP documentation can materially affect terms in the construction all-risks, operational property and casualty markets.
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