The power of revalidation for major hazard risk management in energy operations

Our world is facing unprecedented challenges with the growing need for affordable, safe, and reliable energy whilst progressing towards a lower carbon future. This means the energy industry needs to manage major hazard risks for existing and new process facilities efficiently, to prevent unexpected loss of containment of hazardous materials with detrimental impacts on people and the environment. Facilities undergo detailed process hazard identification and risk assessment during the design stage to identify, eliminate, or control major hazard risks. What happens afterwards during the lifecycle of these facilities? Without revalidation, facilities are exposed to unknown levels of risks from deterioration of controls, creeping changes, and new process hazards, setting operational objectives at risk. That is why the Integrated Gas Business Unit at Origin Energy embarked on a process hazard analysis (PHA) revalidation program, which consists of revalidating its process hazard analysis studies and BowTies for operational facilities to ensure major accident hazards, controls, and risks are still valid, and that those risks are managed to as low as reasonably practicable. In a digital and virtual world with stakeholders all over Queensland, the program evolved to new ways of working and use of digital tools to achieve higher levels of efficiency and quality. The paper will outline the methodology and learnings from this program and how operational teams at the frontline exposed to these risks better understand the critical role they play in preventing major accident events.