Safety of the Plant, Surrounding People, and the Environment – QRA

by | Jul 16, 2020 | Quantitative risk assessment, RSE, Uncategorized

Quantitative Risk Assessment (QRA) is to evaluate risks in ensuring that major risks of facilities are understood and managed within ALARP.

QRA makes sure that:

  1. The hazards and the associated risks inherent in the design and operations are systematically identified and assessed.
  2. Basis to demonstrate safety has been identified and incorporated in the design.
  3. Arrangements are in place to manage these risks to ALARP.

QRA is a quantitative risk assessment approach which shall provide information on the following:

  1. Identification of hazards and potential hazardous events
  2. Estimation of likelihood, causes, possible escalation and consequences of hazardous events and the adequacy of the mitigation measures
  3. Identification of the dominating risk contributors and appropriate risk reduction, if applicable, which can potentially reduce the risk“>risk
  4. Demonstration of risk to as low as reasonably practicable (ALARP) in accordance to risk acceptance criteria.

QRA also supports statutory compliance under the Control of Industrial Major Accident Hazards (CIMAH) 1996 Regulations by Malaysian Government Department of Occupational, Safety and Health (DOSH), and HSE Case for upstream facilities.

QRA study/review shall be carried out throughout the full lifecycle of project, facilities and operation:

  1. Design Stage
  2. Operations Stage

The QRA shall be reviewed as follows:

  1. Onshore facilities – every three (3) years as part of CIMAH report review for Major Hazard Installation.
  2. Offshore facilities – every five (5) years as part of HSE Case review.
  3. Significant changes or modification to the project, facilities and operations that has the potential to introduce new hazards.

Among the common software used for the risk modelling and analysis:

  • Safeti
  • TNO Effects and Riskcurves

QRA is important to determine the risk of a facility whether it is acceptable or not hence it is important for the facility owner to conduct QRA to ensure the safety of the facility workers, surrounding people, and the environment.