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.”