Comparison of Traditional HAZOP and WHIPP

A hazard and operability study (HAZOP) is a structured and systematic examination of a planned or existing process or operation in order to find and evaluate problems that may represent risks to personnel or equipment, or prevent efficient operation. The qualitative HAZOP uses keywords for generating deviations from safe condition and ensures that appropriate safeguards are in place to prevent accidents. WHIPP or Walkdown Hazard Identification for Plant and Process is a hazard identification technique which can be applied to chemical plants, but with modification can be tailored for many industry types. The method adopts a checklist approach to hazard identification which enables auditors and plant operators to carry out plant walkdowns easily and effectively. But there is a high difference between a qualitative hazard identification method and audit type method since HAZOP is mainly used in a process industry and an audit is mainly used for inspecting the safety management of the industry thus in the WHIPP they used guidewords same as HAZOP uses keywords to identify the hazards and risks associated with the hazards while they perform the walk down in the company and are assessed with a checklist. This paper is the comparison of the two methods to see which is more efficient and which is more reliable in the process industries as well as normal industries.