PHA Draft Review Guidance

This paper provides guidance for the review of a Process Hazard Analysis (PHA) draft report. The draft phase of a PHA is the final chance for site personnel to make updates and corrections before the PHA becomes a permanent part of a facility’s Process Safety Management (PSM) records. There are several things that can and should be checked before the final report is issued.

Guidelines are provided that can be used by those reviewing a PHA draft. Key quality control points are defined to ensure that minimum requirements are met in various areas including meeting auditable requirements, appropriate documentation depth, consistency for risk ranking, and robust PHA recommendations. With this quality assurance in place, the resulting integration of the PHA into a site’s PSM program has positive ripple effects, improving the quality and effectiveness of other PSM elements such as Procedure Development, Process Safety Information, and Management of Change.