I’ve just read an article.
The first two lines scared the living crap out of me:
“Dihydrogen Monoxide. It’s everywhere. It’s in our bodies, it’s in our houses, and it’s in the air we breathe.
If we consume too much of it however, we will die.”
– Critical Risk Analysis for Our Daily Lives, Harvard
As a self-confessed worrier, you can imagine what happened when I read that.
Sheer. Blind. Panic.
Until I read the next line;
“Dihydrogen Monoxide is just the chemical name for water”
Yes, I did feel silly. But it did get me thinking.
About ‘risk’ of all things.
Risk is everywhere, in everything we do.
As we’ve just read; there’s a risk of dying from drinking too much water. There’s a risk of catching coronavirus every time we leave the house. Risk of breaking an ankle slipping on spilled coffee at work. Risk of choking on a toast crumb.
So, given that everything in work and life is so risky, how are we able to work and live?!
Through managing the risks we face.
Which brings me to the point of this HAZOP post.
HAZOP (which stands for Hazard and Operability) is a way of managing risks. It’s a technique that identifies potential hazards and functional flaws in new or existing systems and processes.
To get to grips with how to manage risk with HAZOP, we’ll cover the following topics in this Process Street post:
- What is HAZOP?
- How to conduct a HAZOP
- Where did HAZOP come from?
- Who uses HAZOP?
- How to implement HAZOP with Process Street
If you need a little convincing, here’s a sneak peek of the free HAZOP Process that we’ve created. Check it out and get it for free below.
Pour yourself a glass of Dihydrogen Monoxide, and let’s get started!