Guidance available for hazard identification and risk assessment 

Robust hazard identification and risk assessment are essential for preventing a major accident event (MAE). A key requirement for managing the risk of a MAE under the OPGGS Safety Regulations is identifying the hazards that may lead to an MAE. Operators must include in their facility’s safety case a formal safety assessment demonstrating a detailed and systematic assessment of MAE hazards and the associated risk, including the likelihood and consequences of each potential MAE.

Following this, facility operators must ensure hazards continue to be identified throughout the life of an offshore petroleum activity and that there is a systematic assessment and reduction of risk to a level that is as low as reasonably practicable (ALARP). This must be demonstrated in the safety management system (SMS) of the safety case. The SMS must also demonstrate how the operator will monitor and challenge assumptions over time to ensure continuous improvement.

The formal safety assessment must include the active participation of offshore workforce as they will be the people with the most influence over day-to-day safe operations. This is why it is so important to define the hazard identification and risk assessment roles for members of the workforce in the SMS.
When NOPSEMA accepts a facility safety case, the operator must comply with the commitments made in the document, such as those described in this article, or face possible enforcement action.

To assist facility operators in hazard identification and risk assessment, the Australian / International Standard on Risk Management AS ISO 31000 provides a generic framework for establishing the context for risk management as well as identifying, analysing, evaluating, treating, monitoring, and communicating risk.
The International Organisation for Standardisation has also published guidelines on tools and techniques for hazard identification and risk assessment for managing major accident hazards (ISO 17776).

Supporting guidance notes are available on NOPSEMA’s website covering Supporting Safety Studies, Control Measures and Performance Standards, Hazard Identification and Risk Assessment, Operational Risk Assessment and Critical Task Analysis. The guidance notes indicate what is explicitly required by the OPGGS Safety Regulations, discuss good practice, and suggest possible approaches and methodologies that an operator could use to systematically and comprehensively identify hazards, assess the risks, and to communicate the findings effectively.