Case Studies

Representative Engagement Examples

Every example below is a Representative Industry Example — illustrative of the methodology, hazard categories, and findings typical of this engagement type. No example below names or identifies a specific client; details have been generalised to reflect common patterns observed across this category of work.

Petrochemicals/Quantitative Risk Assessment (QRA)

Representative Industry Example

QRA for Land-Use Planning Approval at a Petrochemical Expansion

Challenge

A petrochemical complex expansion required individual and societal risk contours to support land-use planning approval near a growing residential boundary.

Approach

Full QRA covering all major hazardous inventories, including consequence modelling across multiple weather categories and ALARP demonstration for risk reduction options.

Outcome

Risk contours demonstrated compliance with land-use planning criteria; ALARP report supported approval without requiring costly inventory reduction.

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Fertilizers/Consequence Modelling

Representative Industry Example

Ammonia Release Consequence Modelling for a Fertilizer Plant ERDMP Update

Challenge

An ammonia storage and synthesis facility needed updated dispersion modelling to support a statutory ERDMP revision after storage capacity increased.

Approach

Modelled multiple ammonia release scenarios across credible weather conditions, generating toxic dispersion contours for emergency planning zone definition.

Outcome

Updated ERDMP submitted with revised emergency planning distances; off-site authority coordination improved with clearer hazard footprint data.

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Refineries/Risk Based Inspection (RBI)

Representative Industry Example

RBI Program Reducing Turnaround Inspection Scope at a Refinery

Challenge

A refinery's time-based inspection program was driving turnaround scope and cost upward without clear risk justification for the equipment selected.

Approach

Implemented an API 580/581-aligned RBI program covering 400+ equipment items, ranking risk and optimising inspection technique and interval per item.

Outcome

Reduced next turnaround inspection scope by 22% on low-risk equipment while increasing inspection frequency on the highest-risk 8% of assets.

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Hydrogen Plants/HAZID Study

Representative Industry Example

HAZID Study Informing Site Layout for a Green Hydrogen Facility

Challenge

A green hydrogen production facility at pre-FEED stage needed early hazard identification to inform site layout before electrolyser and storage placement was finalised.

Approach

Conducted a HAZID workshop addressing hydrogen-specific flammability, embrittlement, and storage hazards, screening scenarios for further QRA study.

Outcome

Layout revised to increase separation between electrolyser and storage areas at near-zero cost; flagged scenarios carried into a follow-up QRA.

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Specialty Chemicals/SIL Assessment

Representative Industry Example

Combined LOPA and SIL Program for a Specialty Chemical Multi-Purpose Plant

Challenge

A multi-purpose specialty chemical plant had HAZOP findings recommending instrumented safeguards without a consistent basis for determining required reliability.

Approach

Ran LOPA across all high-severity HAZOP scenarios to quantify required risk reduction, then performed SIL verification for the resulting safety instrumented functions.

Outcome

Established SIL targets for 11 safety instrumented functions with verified architecture and proof-test intervals, replacing ad-hoc safeguard decisions.

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Pharmaceuticals/HAZOP Study

Representative Industry Example

HAZOP Study for a Multipurpose API Manufacturing Facility

Challenge

A multipurpose API facility operating six batch reactors had implemented three process route changes over two years without a corresponding hazard re-review.

Approach

A gap-focused HAZOP revalidation prioritised nodes affected by the route changes, cross-checking existing safeguards against current process chemistry rather than re-studying unaffected nodes.

Outcome

Identified 14 unaddressed deviations across thermal margin, nitrogen blanket integrity, and procedural gaps; all high-priority actions closed within 8 weeks.

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Specialty Chemicals/SIL Assessment

Representative Industry Example

SIL Assessment for a High-Hazard Chemical Processing Unit

Challenge

A continuous exothermic reaction unit had SIFs specified at design stage using a generic risk graph method, never validated against LOPA or re-checked after a capacity expansion.

Approach

LOPA workshops quantified required risk reduction for each high-severity scenario, including a new high-pressure feed stream, followed by SIL verification of the as-designed architecture.

Outcome

Identified two over-specified SIFs and one under-specified SIF relative to the new feed stream; corrected the SRS and closed an informal IPL-crediting gap.

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Specialty Chemicals/Thermal Hazard Testing

Representative Industry Example

Thermal Hazard Assessment of an Exothermic Batch Reaction

Challenge

A batch nitration process scaling from 20 L pilot to 2,000 L production required thermal hazard re-verification, since pilot-scale cooling margins do not transfer directly to production scale.

Approach

DSC screening and adiabatic calorimetry determined ATR and TMRad at production-relevant conditions, informing a recalculated addition rate against the production vessel's actual heat removal capacity.

Outcome

Identified an inadequate safety margin under the pilot-scale addition protocol and a previously undetected secondary exotherm; revised addition rate and hold-time limits before scale-up.

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Specialty Chemicals/LOPA Study

Representative Industry Example

LOPA Application for Solvent Handling Operations

Challenge

A centralized solvent handling and distribution system had qualitatively assessed HAZOP findings but no quantified basis for prioritising safeguard investment across transfer and storage scenarios.

Approach

LOPA quantified mitigated event frequency for the four highest-severity solvent handling scenarios, distinguishing genuine Independent Protection Layers from safeguards that did not meet independence criteria.

Outcome

Identified an inadequate safeguard on the transfer piping failure scenario and a non-qualifying nitrogen blanket indication; closed both gaps with new instrumentation and alarms.

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Specialty Chemicals/Process Safety Management (PSM)

Representative Industry Example

PSSR Prior to Startup of a New Manufacturing Facility

Challenge

A newly constructed esterification unit required PSSR before startup, following 18 months of construction-phase vendor substitutions and field changes since the design-phase HAZOP and SIL basis was set.

Approach

Design-basis conformance review, SIF verification, MOC closure checks, and procedure-to-as-built comparison confirmed the facility matched the hazard basis it had been assessed against.

Outcome

Found a fail-safe mismatch on a substituted control valve and three unrecorded field changes; corrected the configuration and held startup pending relief device certification.

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