DO YOU REMEMBER HAZOPs ?

A safety expert is warning businesses to check their security procedures following an explosion in a Scunthorpe leisure centre. Lorien Engineering Solutions says there are processes which can be introduced to help prevent the types of chemical explosions, which occurred in the centre's plant room.

HAZOP (HAZard and OPerability analysis) was created as a concept in the 1960s by ICI. Lorien's HAZOP expert, Andy Cooper, said: "The expected outcome of a HAZOP is the identification of process and operation risks, rated to prioritise actions. However another huge bonus that's happened on every HAZOP that I've facilitated is the increase in knowledge about the process including those who designed it, and people who have worked with it - for decades sometimes.

"At Lorien we are finding a reemergence of the use of HAZOP as an effective tool to interrogate the design of process systems, and not just on chemical processing.We've seen HAZOP delivering benefits to processes as diverse as food ingredient conversion (cooking, mixing, filling), dairy production, brewing processes, pharmaceutical dose formulation, and plant utilities.

Recently we have also been involved with waste composting facilities, waste-to-energy plants, and dosing systems for public swimming pools."