Layers of Protection Analysis (LOPA)

Introduction

This highly participative seminar 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.

A key to the success of Layers of Protection Analysis (LOPA) is its rules for judging if protection layers are truly independent. Because of these rules, LOPA helps the analysts make consistent judgments of if the risk of a scenario is “as low as reasonably practical (ALARP)”. The seminar contents are based and taught on the guidelines from the AIChE/HSE. The seminar covers all aspects of how to apply this very useful technique not only in the selection and analysis of Safety Integrated Systems but also for other applications within an organization such as Capital Improvement Planning, Management of Change, Risk Based maintenance programs, Incident Investigations etc.

Benefits

• Professionals and leaders who wish to learn more about strategies for improving Process Safety Management and the use of the various Layers of Protection to improve the Safety Integrated Systems and Process Safety of their operations.

• Professionals and leaders within an organization responsible for Capital Improvement Planning, Management of Change, Risk Based maintenance programs, Incident Investigations, Emergency planning and response, Facility siting and or design.

• Personnel moving into roles that are participating or are responsible for the Safety Integrated Systems and Process Safety of their operations or Capital Improvement Planning, Management of Change, Risk Based maintenance programs, Incident Investigations, Emergency planning and response, Facility siting and or design.

Seminar Objectives

This seminar aims to enable participants to achieve the following 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 cause-consequence pair:
  • How to estimate the frequency of the initiating event
  • How to determine the consequence for the scenario (unmitigated)
• Understand what is meant by “independence” and “uniqueness” with respect to the safeguard layers (IPLs)
• How to calculate the value of each IPL
• How to determine the risk of a LOPA scenario and how to determine how much further risk reduction (if any) is necessary
• How to use LOPA to determine the Safety Integrity Level (SIL) necessary for an instrument IPL (to comply with the requirements of IEC 61508/61511 for safety instrumented systems)
• How to document LOPA
• How other companies worldwide use LOPA to:
  • Decide which PHA/HAZOP recommendations to reject and which to accept
    Focus limited resources within mechanical integrity departments and  operations on what is critical to manage risk to ALARP
  • Avoid wasting resources on the added cost and unproductive sophistication
    that often occurs when they instead quantify risk using QRA methods such as fault tree and event tree analysis

Training Methodology

The seminar will combine presentations with interactive practical exercises, supported by video materials, activities and case studies. Delegates will be encouraged to participate actively in relating the principles of Layers of Protection Analysis to the particular needs of their workplace.

Seminar Summary

This seminar covers essential skills such as understanding the principles of Process Safety Management, the developing and analysis of Layers of Protection, determine the safety integrity levels required and developing and implementing Safety Integrated Systems.

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