Hazard Identification HAZID

The 'Information management & the golden thread - Supporting Information to assist in the use ofthe ‘Prescribed information and documents table. Practical guidance on collating, keeping and assuring golden thread information' (published by the Building Safety Alliiance on 8 May, 2025) describes HAZID (Hazard Identification) a methodology for considering Building Safety Risks thus:

"One methodology for considering Building Safety Risks is HAZID (Hazard Identification) by way or asking ‘what if…’ to understand how small (and large) ‘issues’ may develop into very significant risks to the building’s safety, and to the residents therein."

"A HAZID is a systematic process of hazard identification. It’s usually performed by a team of people with a range of skills, knowledge, and experience. For identifying building safety risks, the team is key to the success of a HAZID should include:

a session facilitator and recorder with risk assessment and management expertise, with experience of HAZID
people with the following expertise and knowledge:
- details of the building being assessed, including its construction and any subsequent refurbishments or modifications
- the resident profile of the building
- fire and structural safety
- the use of other parts of mixed-use buildings, such as retail or offices
- the maintenance regimes for the building of all APs
- the safety management system of all APs

In the “what if” approach, team members are encouraged to explore all eventualities. Members of the assessing group do this by asking questions such as “what if…” or “how could…” about the item or area under consideration.

In answering the questions, the hazards and how they may develop should be explored. The assessing group can then consider who, and how many, could be affected, along with the control measures in place to prevent and mitigate the occurrence. The HAZID exersise will be likely to raise more questions that it answers, therefore someone will need to refer to source documentation in the golden thread to evaluate the true information, and how this may, or may not, mitigate apparent risks.

The safety case report requires inclusion of a summary of this exercise, and how/why you came to the conclusions that either there are no ‘issues’ (virtually impossible), or what risks you have identified and what you are doing, or are proposing to do, to mitigate them.

The report expects you to have firm evidence that the information that led you to the conclusions was based on the accurate and current information that you hold in your safety case and the report will refer back, directly, to this source information."