Certification Examination Topics Covered
Click below for lists of examination topics for the certification of interest.
Certified PHA Practitioner (CPP®)
Examinees should ensure they are thoroughly familiar with the following topics:
- Process hazards
- Meaning
- Types
- Impacts
- Major hazards
- Inherent safety
- Meaning
- Approaches
- Use
- Process hazard analysis
- Purpose
- Meaning of a hazard scenario
- Success factors and limitations
- Methods available including HAZID and HAZOP
- Selection of PHA methods
- PHA in the process lifecycle
- Team leader
- Role
- Responsibilities
- Qualifications
- Team members
- Roles
- Responsibilities
- Qualifications
- Team composition
- Team size
- Preparation and organization of studies
- Purpose, scope and objectives statement
- Purpose
- Content
- Use
- Reference data and information
- Types
- Collection
- Use
- Scheduling study sessions
- Opening session activities
- Design intent, parameters, guide words, and deviations for HAZOP studies
- Design representations
- Meaning
- Types
- Use
- Process subdivision and assignment of nodes
- Purpose
- Meaning
- Steps involved
- Global sections / nodes
- PHA worksheet entries
- Initiating events / causes
- Multiple failures
- Dependent and common cause failures
- Cascade and sequential failures
- Active failures and latent conditions
- Random and systematic failures
- Intermediate events
- Consequences
- Safeguards
- Enablers
- Risk ranking
- Risk matrices
- Severity and likelihood
- Recommendations
- Overall guidelines
- Human failures and human factors in PHA
- Facility siting in PHA
- Addressing previous incidents in PHA
- Treatment of utilities and support systems in PHA
- Consideration of modes of operation in PHA
- Addressing process changes with PHA
- Quality control in PHA
- PHA revalidation
- Purpose
- Preparation
- Conduct
- Recording and reporting on PHA studies
- Requirements
- Uses of worksheets and reports
- Follow-up for PHA studies
Certified PHA Specialist (CPS®)
Examinees should ensure they are thoroughly familiar with the examination topics. Various topics from the CPP® examination are addressed along with the following additional topics:
- Competence of participants
- Meaning
- Management
- Selection of participants
- Performance metrics
- PHA for control systems including CHAZOP
- Control system characteristics
- Control system failures
- Importance of control system PHA
- Methods for control system PHA
- CHAZOP deviations
- Control and mitigation of control system failures
- Weaknesses in PHA
- Inventory
- Management
- Domino effects
- Meaning
- Types
- Characteristics
- Importance
- Control and mitigation
- Treatment in PHA
- PHA on procedures
- PHA on batch and non-steady-state processes
- Reactive chemical hazards
- Meaning
- Types
- Characteristics
- Importance
- Control and mitigation
- Treatment in PHA
- LOPA and PHA
- LOPA and IEC 61511 / ISA 84
- Meaning of safety instrumented system, safety instrumented function and safety integrity level
- Performance of PHA in preparation for LOPA
- Bow tie diagrams
- Purpose
- Structure and elements
- Features
- Benefits
- Use
Certified PHA Expert (CPE®)
Examinees should ensure they are thoroughly familiar with the examination topics. Various topics from the CPP® and CPS® examinations are addressed along with the following additional topics:
PHA Leadership Skills
- Leadership, management and facilitation of PHA studies
- Meaning
- Styles
- Human factors in preparation and performance of PHA
- Psychological factors that influence PHA
- Heuristics
- Cognitive biases
- Pitfalls
- Decision making in PHA
- Managing conflict in PHA teams
Human Factors for Process Safety
- Human factors in process plants
- Meaning
- Importance
- Models
- Types
- Issues
- Ways of addressing
- Human failures in process plants
- Meaning
- Importance
- Types
- Mechanisms
- Ways of addressing