What’s New in Open-PHA® – April 2021
Version 2.0.0 of Open-PHA® has finally arrived, and it comes packed with a long list of new features which have been highly requested by users like you. There are a number of updates in this version that we hope you will enjoy. This list of key new features includes:
- Combining Safeguards and IPLs into a Single List
- Addition of Risk Ranking After Recommendations
- Addition of Dedicated PHA Checklists
- Linking to PHA Worksheets from Recommendations & Safeguards
- Auto-Navigation Between PHA and LOPA Worksheets
- Improved Spell Check Performance and Accuracy
Combining Safeguards and IPL’s
HAZOP Safeguards and LOPA IPLs have up to this point been separate lists in Open-PHA®. Often times safeguards and IPLs have identical descriptions and properties – meaning that this information is being stored in two locations. As a user, you were additionally required to enter this information in two locations which was less efficient and an opportunity to introduce errors.
With Open-PHA® 2.0.0, safeguards and IPLs are now combined. When performing HAZOP on the PHA worksheets you will have an option to mark a safeguard as an IPL which will automatically populate your IPLs on the LOPA worksheets.
Risk Ranking After Recommendations
Open-PHA® has long provided the ability to risk rank HAZOP scenarios before and after safeguards. However, many PHA practitioners also opt to risk rank scenarios after the implementation of recommendations. This was a feature that was not available in previous version of Open-PHA®. In version 2.0.0 this highly requested feature is now available. By default, these risk ranking fields will be hidden, but they can easily be enabled from the column visibility settings.
Dedicated PHA Checklist
The use of PHA checklists to address broad process safety concerns like human factors and facility siting are common in PHA assessments. In many PHA tools it is not uncommon for facilitators to create these checklists as a separate node and enter the checklist questions as deviations for the purpose of documentation. The drawback of this approach is that it may be unclear to a reader that these nodes are checklists and not HAZOP worksheets. In Open-PHA® 2.0.0, dedicated PHA checklists have been added to provide a more straightforward method for documenting PHA checklists.
When working in Open-PHA® Cloud, checklist templates can also now be imported from libraries similarly to PHA templates. This allows you to avoid the hassle of retyping the same questions over and over again.
Links to PHA Worksheets from Recommendations & Safeguards
When viewing recommendations or safeguards in Open-PHA®, the locations where those recommendations or safeguards are used are displayed in the PHA node hierarchy. While this feature has actually been around since the very first version of Open-PHA®, its functionality has been greatly improved. Navigating from the recommendations list to the PHA scenario where a recommendation was used could be time consuming, particularly in a large study. In this update, the referenced locations of recommendations and safeguards are now clickable links that will navigate directly to the referenced location on the PHA or LOPA worksheets.
Auto-Navigation Between PHA and LOPA Worksheets
Similar to the inefficiency of navigating from the recommendation or safeguard list to a referenced location in the PHA or LOPA worksheets, navigating back and forth between the PHA and LOPA worksheets could be frustrating for large worksheets. Moving between PHA and LOPA worksheets during a facilitated study is common and typically involves moving between the same scenario in PHA and LOPA. Therefore, Open-PHA® version 2.0.0 will auto-navigate to the last–selected record when navigating between the PHA and LOPA worksheets.
Improved Spell Check Performance and Accuracy
The Open-PHA® Cloud spell check and translation engine has been updated to use the newest machine–learning algorithms from Microsoft. This will improve both the speed and accuracy of proofing and translations.