INGENIEUR
In terms of identifying
any potential risk of hazard
and operability issues of the
sewerage facilities, Hazard
and Operability study (HAZOPs)
have been introduced to the
Malaysian sewerage industry
since the
mid-1990s. It is
a structured and systematic
examination of a planned or
existing process or operation in
order to identify and evaluate
problems that may represent
risks to personnel or equipment,
or prevent efficient operation.
HAZOPs originated in the
1960s at Imperial Chemical
Industries (ICI), a major British
international chemical company
at the time. In Malaysia,
the requirement to conduct
HAZOPs has been incorporated
by Sewerage Ser vices
Department (SSD) in the 1990s
and is continued to date by
Suruhanjaya Perkhidmatan Air
Negara (SPAN) in the Malaysian
Sewerage Guidelines (MSIG).
Before the establishment
of Sewerage Guidelines and
HAZOP studies requirements,
the sewerage facilities were
unsafe and some were difficult
to manage and operate .
The aim of HAZOPs is to
ensure that sewerage facilities
are designed in a good and safe
manner to minimize hazard and
operability issues, by imposing
risk control or risk reduction.
The methods of risk control and
reduction are commonly referred
to as the Hierarchy of Control.
Occupational safety and health
professionals use the hierarchy
of control (shown in the Figure E)
to determine how to implement
feasible and effective controls.
In most cases, the preferred
approach is to eliminate the
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60
Figure D: Risk Categories Controller System to Ensure
Business Outcomes
Figure E: Hierarchy of Hazardous Controls
source of hazards. If the
hazards cannot be controlled
through elimination of the
source or substitution of quieter
equipment, engineering controls
may be installed to reduce
hazards to safer levels.
Usage of personal protective
equipment (PPE) is the last
option in the hierarchy of
control. PPE is generally less
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– DECEMBER 2015
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JUNE 2013
effective than elimination,
substitution, and engineering
controls because they rely
on human actions to reduce
hazards. Used in combination
with other levels of control, such
as administrative controls, PPE
may provide worker protection
when engineering controls do
not adequately remove the
hazard.