Application and Challenges of Layer of Protection Analysis (LOPA) in Mining and Minerals Melting Processes: Insights into Benefits and Limitations

Layer of Protection Analysis (LOPA) is a semiquantitative technique widely used in process industries for assessing hazardous scenarios and supporting risk-informed decision-making. It provides a balance between the simplicity of qualitative and the detail of quantitative analyses. This paper discusses the authors’ experiences with the application of LOPA in the mining and metals industry, combined with traditional methods like HAZOP and HAZID to identify risks. Several LOPA's limitations became evident, and scenarios involving human factors, natural events, and asset integrity were excluded from analysis. Certain mining and metals processes, often complex and heavily reliant on manual operations like those involving induction furnaces where overheat scenarios can lead to explosive phase transitions upon contact with water and molten metal, pose unique challenges to LOPA's effectiveness due to difficulties in isolating independent protection layers. Despite these challenges, the advantages of LOPA, such as enhanced understanding of protection layers and fostering effective safety improvements, are significant. The paper anticipates continued use of LOPA within the company, complemented by Safety Critical Task Analysis to manage human errors and enhance safety controls in critical situations.