Organization of a Hazards Analysis: Preparations

This post is the third in a paid series to do with the organization and management of process hazard analyses (PHAs). The following is a list of other posts in this series.

1. Organization

2. The Charge Letter

3. Preparations

4. Documentation Requirements

5. Time Required, Kick-Off, Closeout and Walk Abouts

6. The Team

7. The Team Leader / Facilitator

8. The Leader’s Skills (Part 1)

9. The Leader’s Skills (Part 2)

10. The Scribe (this one)

11. Specialist Support

12. Sophisticated Language

In this post we discuss the preparations needed for a PHA.

Preparations

One of the keys to a successful hazards analysis is that all the team members, particularly the leader and scribe, are thoroughly prepared. The importance of this step cannot be overstated. When a hazards analysis goes awry, the reason, more often than not, is inadequate preparation. The meeting gets off to a bad start from which it never recovers. As a working number, it is good to budget half a day of preparation time for each meeting day, and maybe another day per meeting week for writing the report.