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Assess Hazards with Process Flow Failure Modes Analysis

Safety
March
2013

Process flow failure modes (PFFM) analysis is an intuitive, process-flow-directed way to identify potentially hazardous scenarios. Learn how to apply this technique to your process hazard reviews.

PFFM differs from HAZOP in several ways. Here are some of the unique characteristics of PFFM.

  • The PFFM method uses a field-checked safeguarding flow diagram (SFD) instead of piping and instrumentation diagrams (P&IDs), although P&IDs can be used if time and resources prevent the development of SFDs.
  • The reference drawings (SFDs or P&IDs) are divided into smaller sections (similar to HAZOP nodes, but frequently smaller). PFFM defines the size of a node based on the time it takes to review a cause; each node should represent about an hour of work by the team. This makes it easy to predict how long the review will take, and to plan the effort.
  • A reference list of process failures (the LIST) is used as the basis for the review.
  • Worksheets are pre-populated with causes in a systematic way, following the process flow.


 

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