One human factor considered in a process hazard analysis is signage clarity.
Process hazard analysis helps businesses evaluate, identify and control the hazards of highly hazardous chemicals in an orderly and systematic way. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration regulates process hazard analysis requirements, including the human factors analysis that is just one part of the overall process hazard analysis.
Process Hazard Analysis (PHA)
Initially, an employer must perform a process hazard evaluation by a method that appropriately evaluates, identifies and controls the hazards involved. Once the initial process hazard evaluation is complete, it must be updated and revalidated every five years, states the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) booklet entitled "Process Safety Management," published in 2000. Acceptable evaluation methods include: a failure mode and effects analysis, a fault tree analysis, a hazard and operability study, and a what-if and/or a checklist, among other methods.
Process Hazard Analysis Considerations
Human factors are just one part of the process hazard analysis team's considerations. It also must address the hazardous process, any history of incidents with potentially catastrophic consequences, what sensors or detection hardware warn of potential hazards, the consequences of the failure of administrative or engineering controls, and the possible safety and health concerns if a breach of controls should occur. The employer must have a system for responding to the PHA team's findings. Recommendations must be resolved and documented. This includes communicating the recommended changes to all associated maintenance, operating, and other employees involved in the process being analyzed.
Human Factor Analysis
Human factor analysis is a key part of the process hazard analysis. The Acusafe website's simplified interpretation of OSHA Instruction CPL 2-2.45A CH-1 9/94 states the compliance directives for process safety management. Human factors analysis includes many issues associated with the humans involved in the hazard being analyzed. For instance, the team should carefully evaluate the operator process, including the way the operator interacts with any equipment during the process, the number and frequency of task repetitions, the operators' work schedules (for anything unusual), whether control displays are clear and simple, any automated vs. manual procedures, operator feedback about the process and signage and code clarity.
Definition of Human Factors
To further clarify the human factor portion of the process hazard analysis, the Acusafe website states a definition for the human factors analysis. Essentially, the PHA team must account for human error as a cause for the hazard scenarios being analyzed. This includes human factors engineering and human factors resources if they hold the potential for affecting the outcomes of the process hazard analysis.
Tags: hazard analysis, process hazard, being analyzed, factors analysis, process hazard analysis
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