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Layer of Protection Analysis (LOPA)
By Mr. William Bridges
Pre-Conference Workshops
Feb 20-21,2010

Introduction

LOPA combines both qualitative and quantitative elements of hazard evaluation and risk assessment to analyze and judge the adequacy of existing or proposed safeguards against process deviations and accident scenarios. It uses an order of magnitude approach to quantify the likelihood of causes, likelihood of failure of independent protection layers (IPLs), and estimate the consequences for chosen accident scenarios. These approximations are used to estimate the risk of a scenario.

Target Audience

This workshop is designed for experienced PHA/ HAZOP leaders and builds on risk judgment skills learned while doing qualitative risk reviews. However, others who do qualitative, semi-quantitative, and fully quantitative risk assessments will benefit from learning this quicker, simpler method for estimating risk. Only individuals with a strong technical background (such as engineers and scientists) should attend. Others who may benefit from this workshop include:

  • Managers – Operations Safety
  • Project Managers
  • Engineers – Process, Safety, and Mechanical
  • PSM Coordinators and Managers

Workshop Objectives

  • When and how to use LOPA
  • How to identify which scenarios from a HAZOP or other qualitative analysis could benefit from LOPA
  • How to systematically create risk scenarios for new processes or for existing processes under change
  • How to establish risk acceptance (risk tolerance) criteria for use within your company (this is also called development of ALARP criteria) and how to depict this in a Risk Matrix or in a formula
  • How to calculate “as-is” risk for a causeconsequence pair.
  • How to estimate the frequency of the initiating event and how to determine the consequence for the scenario (unmitigated)
Workshop Description

A key to the success of LOPA is its rules for judging if protection layers are truly independent. Because of these rules, LOPA helps the analysts make consistent judgments of the risk of scenarios “as low as reasonably practical (ALARP).” This “How To” workshop is taught by one of the originators of LOPA; he is also a principal author of the AIChE/CCPS book, Layer of Protection Analysis (2001). The workshop covers all aspects of how to apply this very useful technique. Workshops are used as the primary mode of teaching each aspect of LOPA. You will perform several complete LOPAs before leaving class.


Workshop Instructor – Mr. William Bridges

Bill is President of Process Improvement Institute (PII), a US-based consulting and training organization that specializes in controlling risk in chemical processing and manufacturing environments. He is considered a leading authority on process safety engineering, risk management, and human error prevention. He has a Bachelor and Masters degree in Chemical Engineering. He has 10 patents, and he 30 years of chemical industry experience. Bill has trained several thousand process hazard analysis/HAZOP leaders since 1987 and has been teaching LOPA courses since 1995. He was an originator of LOPA and a primary author for the LOPA guideline and he is the principal author of the upcoming textbook on Independent Protection Layers and Initiating Events.


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