Regardless of the type of risk assessment, ultimately when managing risk, it is important to pay close attention to the adequacy of the control measures. Brian Cooper (Director and Principal Risk Consultant) discussed this topic and the use of Layers of Protection Analysis (LOPA) to examine adequacy of controls, in his presentation at ProSafe 2015.

LOPA provides a very good basis for assessing the adequacy of controls. The principles underpinning LOPA can be extended and applied in qualitative risk assessment studies to cater for the assessment of controls for non-process scenarios. Instead of attempting to analyse control reliability in terms of “probability of failure on demand” (PFD), descriptive terms that are more meaningful to a non-technical workshop group can be used.

The method described by Brian attempts to minimise the use of potentially confusing “numbers” such as frequencies and PFDs that can be difficult to apply within a workshop setting when considering administrative controls. Through the application of ratings for specific characteristics of the control, estimates can be determined for the effective risk reduction associated with the control, which is broadly calibrated to a LOPA “IPL credit”.

Download the Presentation Slides to read more about applying LOPA approaches for non-process scenarios

To read more about the presentation, download the presentation slides here.