SAChE® Certificate Program - Risk Review Using LOPA (Layer of Protection Analysis) | AIChE

SAChE® Certificate Program - Risk Review Using LOPA (Layer of Protection Analysis)

This course is designed to introduce the chemical engineering student to Layer of  Protection Analysis (LOPA), a simplified, semi-qualitative risk analysis method.  The student is introduced to the concepts of risk, initiating events, layers of protection, safeguards, conditional modifiers, enabling events and tolerable risk. These concepts are illustrated through examples including several example LOPAs .  

After taking this course the student should be able to participate in a LOPA  and understand the LOPA methodology.

Please note that ELA980 has replaced ELA903: SAChE® Certificate Program - Risk Assessment.

Learn more about the SAChE Certificate Program.

Unit 1:

- Describe when in the life cycle of a chemical process LOPA can be used and in what situations LOPA can be helpful

- Describe the LOPA process and the common elements of a LOPA

Unit 2:

- Describe the seven core attributes that are characteristics of an effective independent protecion layer, or IPL

Unit 3:

- Describe enabling conditions and conditional modifiers

- Give examples of each

- Explain when they can be used in LOPA

This advanced course is for upper-level chemical engineering undergraduate students that have had some exposure to process safety.

The course should be taken by those interested in risk analysis as applied in the chemical industry.  Prerequisites to the course is a basic understanding of chemical hazards and their contribution to major process safety incidents.

Students are encouraged to take the Level 2 (intermediate) courses or become familiar with the subjects covered by the Level 2 courses by other means before taking this course.

Unit 1: LOPA Process

Unit 2: Core Attributes of Independent Protection Layers

Unit 3: Enabling Conditions and Conditional Modifiers

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  • Course ID:
    ELA980
  • Source:
    SAChE – Safety and Chemical Engineering Education
  • Language:
    English
  • Skill Level:
    Advanced
  • Duration:
    2.5 hours
  • CEUs:
    0.25
  • PDHs:
    2.50
  • Accrediting Agencies:
    Florida
    New Jersey
    New York
    RCEP