Layer of Protection Analysis (LOPA) has become a cornerstone of modern process safety management. As facilities continue to pursue safer operations while improving engineering efficiency, the need for a digital, integrated LOPA workflow has never been greater.
Yet many organisations still perform LOPA using disconnected spreadsheets, manually transferring data from HAZOP studies, duplicating information, and spending valuable engineering time maintaining traceability between different documents.
Today, we’re excited to announce a major enhancement to Vizop—our new Layer of Protection Analysis (LOPA) module, designed to simplify SIL target assessment while remaining fully aligned with IEC functional safety standards and industry best practices.
From HAZOP to LOPA—Without the Manual Work
One of the biggest frustrations engineers face is recreating information that already exists within a completed HAZOP study.
With Vizop, that repetitive work is largely eliminated.
In just two clicks, engineers can generate a new Safety Instrumented Function (SIF) directly from the HAZOP worksheet. Vizop automatically identifies the relevant sensor and final element, imports the initiating cause, consequence, Independent Protection Layers (IPLs), and severity ranking, creating a complete starting point for the LOPA study.
This seamless workflow not only saves time but also significantly reduces transcription errors and improves consistency throughout the project.
Built for Complete Traceability
Maintaining traceability between HAZOP findings and subsequent LOPA studies is an essential requirement of the functional safety lifecycle.
Every SIF automatically created within Vizop maintains a direct reference back to the originating HAZOP deviation. Engineers can jump between the LOPA worksheet and the corresponding HAZOP scenario with a single click, making reviews, audits, and project verification far simpler.
Rather than relying on manual references or external spreadsheets, traceability becomes an inherent part of the workflow.
Comprehensive IEC-Compliant LOPA
The new LOPA module supports all standard semi-quantitative LOPA requirements, including:
- Multiple initiating events for each scenario
- Enabling conditions
- Conditional modifiers
- Independent Protection Layers (IPLs)
- Separate calculations for multiple risk receptors, including personnel safety, environmental impact, and financial consequences
- Integrated annotations for documenting assumptions, comments, and action items
Because the module shares the same Risk Matrix framework as Vizop’s HAZOP studies, organizations can maintain a consistent approach to risk assessment across projects.
Designed Around Engineering Productivity
Beyond supporting industry standards, Vizop focuses on improving the day-to-day experience of process safety engineers.
The LOPA worksheet has been designed to minimise unnecessary scrolling while keeping all critical information visible within a compact interface.
Engineers can also:
- Import and update SIF Lists directly from Excel
- Duplicate and reorganise SIFs with ease
- Export professionally formatted LOPA worksheets and SIF Lists in just a few clicks
- Generate outputs ready for inclusion in SIL Assessment reports with minimal or no reformatting
These workflow improvements help reduce administrative effort, allowing teams to focus on engineering decisions rather than document management.
Advanced Capabilities Beyond Traditional LOPA Software
Vizop also introduces several advanced capabilities that are not commonly available in many LOPA applications.
These include:
- Support for Low Demand, High Demand, and Continuous Mode Safety Instrumented Functions
- Flexible IPL management with optional justification for enabling or disabling protection layers
- Optional calculation settings to ignore scenarios where the tolerable risk criterion has already been achieved
- The ability to calculate SIL targets based only on the largest risk gap when required
- Optional exclusion of incomplete risk receptors, avoiding unnecessary placeholder data entry
These features provide greater flexibility while helping organisations align the software with their own engineering practices.
A More Connected Process Safety Platform
The introduction of LOPA represents another step in Vizop’s evolution from a digital HAZOP tool into a comprehensive process safety platform.
By integrating HAZOP, LOPA, SIF management, and reporting within a single environment, Vizop helps organisations reduce duplicated effort, improve data consistency, and strengthen traceability throughout the process safety lifecycle.
Whether you’re an owner/operator, EPC contractor, or process safety consultant, Vizop is designed to help your team perform studies more efficiently while maintaining the technical rigour expected by industry standards.
Experience the New LOPA Module
The integrated LOPA module is now available as part of Vizop.
If you’re looking to modernise your LOPA workflow, reduce manual effort, and improve traceability between HAZOP and SIL assessment, we’d love to show you what’s possible.
Learn more: https://xsericon.com/vizop-lopa/
Or
Try it yourself now: https://trial.vizop.app/
Contact xSeriCon today to schedule a customized demonstration and discover how Vizop can help transform your process safety studies.