HAZID vs HAZOP? What are the differences? Which technique is better?
One of the many questions that people ask us, as process safety related experts, is this-what is the difference between the techniques called HAZID and HAZOP. Frankly speaking, the acronyms are kind of self explanatory, but however, allow us to elaborate below.
As the name suggests, HAZID is ashort for HAZard IDentification, which means in this technique all hazards get to be identified. That’s it. If one wants, one can analyze them further to see how they can be the cause of accidents, but purely from a definition point of view, it is just the identification part. As far as HAZOP is concerned, it is a HAZard and Operability Study. For more details of this technique, please see around this site where it is explained in detail.
So why are there two different techniques? Actually there are several risk analysis & safety evaluation techniques used in industry and these are just the two which are famous. Different techniques are used to achieve different things. If you were to analyze a complex hydrocarbons processing plant, then you would use probably the HAZOP technique rather than just the HAZID. This is because when designing the plant, you need to evaluate and take care of all the potential hazards, which means you need to study the deviations and employ mitigations that will neutralize the effects of those deviations. Merely identifying the hazards is not going to help much.
On the other hand, suppose you are handed over a plant or a unit of a plant to operate and want a quick overview of what hazards to look out for (from a personal safety point of view) then you can use HAZID to quickly identify all the visible hazards present at the site, so that you can be aware of what needs to be done to be safe. This means that whether you need to use PPE (Personal Protective Equipment) such as safety helmets & safety goggles. But this is not the only situation, HAZID can also be used in the very early stages of a project where a quick identification of all the hazards present can lead to better safety systems being designed. For example if there is going to be a lot of rotating machinery or conveyors, then identifying these hazards early will lead to protective systems being added later, such as mechanical guards and covers, or drive door interlocks that cut off the power when opened and so on. Then after this design is done, one can do a follow on HAZOP Study to identify what can go wrong further (for example door interlock bypassed, or not working, maintenance overrides and so on).
To get a good grip on the HAZOP technique, please take a look at the e-learning course below.
To buy the course, simply select one of the three options below. If you are an organization, then this same course is also available as an Enterprise solution with even SCORM compatible versions that run inside of your organization’s LMS (Learning Management System).
What’s more you can get this software (e-learning course) in various versions too- whether you are looking for online access or would like to download it to your PC. Check out the various versions below.
(works with any Windows OS such as XP, Vista, 7, 8, 8.1, or 10).
Options
1. Standard Download Version (works on any ONE PC, THREE years License, Windows OS only)
$499 US only
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2. Online Version (NO Download, get online access for ONE YEAR, Windows or Mac)
$399 US only
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3. Enterprise Version (with several BONUS modules). Train 10 learners for $3600 US only for ONE year. Access from any PC/Mac/Tablet that supports a browser with Flash
ALL VERSIONS COME WITH FREE ONLINE EXAM AND CERTIFICATION!
Not Sure? View online Demo here!