As part of our service provision, AGR Safety and Risk Management experts offer Safety Case creation to help clients identify hazards, assess safety risks and put mitigation barriers in place to minimise those risks to As Low As Reasonably Practicable (ALARP).
For most high-risk industries, a documented Safety Case is mandatory for obtaining your licence to operate. It ultimately proves that duty holders have assessed all possible risks and hazards and has the ability to manage or control these risks.
The Safety Case goes beyond adherence to industry codes and standards, which may not adequately cover issues such as optimisation of layouts, minimisation/implication of facilities, explosion mitigation, etc.
The safety case itself describes the operating facility, provides details on the hazards and risks and details the risk control measures and safety management system that will be used to minimise risks associated with operations.
The Safety Case comprises three main parts:
- The “Facility Description”
A detailed description of the facilities, including key drawings (General arrangements, Fire and Safety Plans, Process Flow Diagrams, etc.) - The “Safety Management Description”
An overview of the safety management system, including policies, organization, responsibilities, procedures, emergency response provisions, maintenance and integrity management, etc. - A “Formal Safety Assessment”
Identification of all the hazards present on the facility and assessment of these hazards to ensure that the associated risks of major accidents are fully understood and minimised.
The Formal Safety Assessment comprises various component studies including:
- Hazard identification – identification of hazards, causes of accidents, prevention controls, mitigation controls and emergency response measures
- Initial risk assessment using a “Risk Matrix” of consequence and likelihood
- Detailed investigation of the potential for major fires and explosions and the effectiveness of the proposed safety systems to prevent or mitigate them
- Detailed investigation of non-flammable accidents such as structural failure, ship impact, dropped objects, helicopter crashes, adverse weather, etc.
- Detailed investigation of the adequacy of the proposed safety systems, including escape, evacuation and rescue provisions, fire-fighting systems, etc.
- Detailed Quantitative Risk Assessment to determine the overall risk levels to personnel and to investigate the benefit of improvements to design or operations
- The study of risk reduction ideas on a cost-benefit basis to determine whether the risks can be economically reduced further
- The development of “Performance Standards” for all safety critical equipment as a basis for ongoing inspection, maintenance and integrity management