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Over the last twenty years, the staff of ioMosaic Corporation have conducted and
documented several hundred HAZOP studies. In the conduct of these studies,
accurate and retrievable recording of this safety exercise is vital. We have
had occasion to use various commercially available software packages for HAZOP
recording and found all of them to be somewhat useful but they are expensive
and have serious shortcomings which detracts from the completeness of the
recording.
Over time, we have concluded that the readily available software, Excel, is
ideally structured for recording HAZOPs. Basically, the very structure of
Excel consists of a workbook composed of many sheets. It allows for the
recording of information on one study section of a HAZOP on one sheet and
permits the labeling of the sheet to identify the study section. This
information includes the equipment and lines in the section being studied, the
drawings of the study section and its design intent. Excel has the inherent
versatility to be the ideal HAZOP recording tool.
Other capabilities available in Excel that are useful in recording a HAZOP study
include:
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Insertion of sheets in a workbook.
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Copy sheets between workbooks.
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Insert or delete lines
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Spell checking of sheets.
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Copy and paste within a study section.
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Copy and paste between study sections in the same or different workbooks.
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Sort columns for reporting purposes.
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Filter sheets as needed.
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Highlight items that need attention by the use of color.
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If necessary, digitized pictures or sketches can be inserted into a study
Sections sheet for further clarification or documentation.
We have automated most of the above functionality by writing appropriate Macros
to make it easier and faster for the HAZOP Scribe to appropriately record the
study.
As Excel is available on virtually all the computers in any organization, all of
the records for follow-up can be handled electronically and reported back
easily. This allows generating of timely reports on follow-up status for
management and demonstrating that follow-up is proceeding is a timely manner.
To ensure the security of information, parts of the HAZOP record that do not
have to be modified by those responsible for the follow-up, can be locked and
password protected. This also improves the likelihood that a backup copy of the
HAZOP record will be saved as it is dispersed to many computers rather than
just one.
Finally, continuous PHA revalidation has been a goal of many organizations and
in this day of electronic data storage this is now a reality. With Excel and
the ioMosaic Corporation HAZOP template available on all the computers in the
organization any time there is a Management of Change (MOC) HAZOP the results
can be recorded in the template and at the completion of the study e-mailed to
the HAZOP record custodian for the affected study. He or she can then insert
the MOC record into the appropriate study section (sheet) or if necessary
insert an additional sheet. If a sketch showing the change is available in
electronic format it to can be inserted into the study section effected as
well. As a result the HAZOP study is kept up to date by being continuously
revalidated.
Based on our vast experience as team leaders, team participants as well as prime
recorders of innumerable HAZOPs, we have customized Excel to create a software
tool specifically for the recording of HAZOPs. This customized tool is
extremely easy to use and is free of the shortcomings that plague the far more
costly, commercial software packages available on the market. A comparative
analysis of the features of ioMosaic Corporation's customized HAZOPtimizer
Excel tool and commercially available competitors is shown in attachment A. The
ioMosaic Corporation's HAZOPtimizer recording tool comes with a comprehensive
"help file" to ensure rapid proficiency in the use of this customized Excel
software.
We intend to make our customized Excel HAZOPtimizer recorder software available
to all our customers, our clients and other interested parties for the very
nominal onetime cost of $99 a copy. A nominal maintenance fee of $25 per
year will ensure that the user will receive upgrades and improvements and have
access to a help desk hot line at the firm.
Comparison of ioMosaic Corporation tool with
commercially available HAZOP recording software
Many of the companies that market HAZOP recording software and consulting
services claim that you have to use their software and pay their prices to get
the job done. The first column in the Table below lists the so called
advantages they claim. The second column of the Table explains how you can do
the same thing with an ioMosaic Corporation customized Excel HAZOP
spreadsheet. The Table also lists a few features of the ioMosaic
Corporation tool not available in other HAZOP recording software.
Table
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