{"id":2360,"date":"2026-04-27T19:35:07","date_gmt":"2026-04-27T19:35:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/petrostreet.com\/main\/?p=2360"},"modified":"2026-04-28T17:39:06","modified_gmt":"2026-04-28T17:39:06","slug":"tier-3-lopc-management-analysis-investigation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/petrostreet.com\/main\/tier-3-lopc-management-analysis-investigation\/","title":{"rendered":"Tier-3 LOPC Management, Analysis &amp; Investigation"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Hydrocarbon processing facilities keep the records of all API 754 process safety indicators, assess their performance, and ensure that the bad actors are identified, analyzed, and fixed. Every tier level indicator has got its own importance and plays a role in avoiding process safety events of larger consequences. One of the process safety indicators at Tier-3 is Loss of Primary Containment which represents a lot many concerns within Tier-4 indicators and if not addressed can eventually lead to Tier-2 &amp; Tier-1 process safety events. This means that there must be a strong control in managing, analyzing, and investigating every Tier-3 LOPC case. This PetroMarvel covers that very area and provides insights into having that control in place.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1536\" height=\"1024\" src=\"https:\/\/petrostreet.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/tier-3.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-2361\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Collection phase:<\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Tier-3 LOPC data is required to be collected in a systematic way. Facility should have this assignment clearly defined supported by the right data input sets which are required to be filled in. An ideal data collection system is linked with incident management system where for Tier-3 LOPC, all relevant details are provided. As a minimum, data should be collected to cover location, primary containment definition (piping base metal, flange \/gasket joint, pressure vessel, heat exchanger, storage tank, and others), principal nature of leak, substance details, leak rate, immediate cause, other findings, and remarks. Data can be enhanced beyond this depending upon the facility\u2019s needs. The target to collect the data should be the same day as the leak reported as this ensures that all personnel concerned are contacted to get as many details as needed. Delaying the data collection may result in inaccuracies during the analysis and investigation. This phase is the basis that how a facility would eventually manage, analyze and investigate Tier-3 LOPCs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h5 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Dashboard review phase:<\/h5>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Data should be readily accessible in one place as and when needed to be analyzed further. If linked within an online incident management system, reports can be created any time with all the input data. Trends are made automatically, enlisting of location, principal nature of leak, substance details and other useful information can provide quick leads. Ideally, monthly, this data should be accessed to obtain bar charts, pie charts, run charts, trends over the months, and other meaningful information. Call it a dashboard review phase, where collected data is now available to be viewed &amp; reviewed at one visual place. All operating, maintenance, and technical personnel should have access to this dashboard. However, this is required to be reviewed at the same time. Collection phase was not the review phase of the data. A party other than the data collection should make this data review and discuss with the discipline collecting the data, if any explanation is needed. When done at a frequency, this provides an opportunity to ensure that data being collected in system is all reliable.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h5 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Analysis phase:<\/h5>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">What kind of analysis is needed here and why is this separate than the investigation. Analysis will be providing us with an overall perspective when considering site Tier-3 LOPCs. Investigation for each case would come in the next and the last phase but before that is done, an analysis covering the collected &amp; reviewed data is important. The minimum what is expected here is to have a monthly one-page report which should translate the displayed dashboard charts into leads. Taglines are required to be created during this phase. Call outs are required so that they may provide directions as to where a cumulative effort is needed and where SME level probe would still be sufficient.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cOver the past 3 months, there has been an increase in leaks from flange \/gasket joints\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cFacility has been unable to address caustic leaks from piping base metal over two years of time.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cThere has not been any hydrocarbon leak reported now for more than a year time.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Analysis in form of these call outs should be regularly shared with the top management and with their endorsement should be with rest of the Operations, Maintenance &amp; Technical staff responsible to act safely while handling all these LOPC cases. Regular sharing of this analysis would enable management to act on the right areas when forming teams to investigate or assigning a discipline team to work deeper on some repetitive cases.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Investigation:<\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">It is recommended that a PetroMarvel on Incident Investigation must be looked into when performing the Tier-3 LOPC investigation however it is important that this investigation may not necessarily be performed under a term of reference styled team formation. SME level investigation for all Tier-3 leaks would provide timely outcomes of what happened, why, and how to fix that. Let SME connect with other disciplines if needed during the investigation. SME may start looking at the data, dashboard, analysis to have an overview before he takes a start to investigate the case provided to him. That would provide some leads on similar LOPCs that happened during the past months and years. Starting with the learnings, actions &amp; recommendations, if any from the previous reports would certainly support and bring in necessary starting points. Primary containment nature should define that SME should be provided from which discipline exactly, however in any case, SME should be coming from either Mechanical Maintenance, Inspection or Asset Integrity teams. Any LOPC can be considered as Pressure Equipment Integrity Incident and API 585 can be easily applied.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Hydrocarbon processing facilities keep the records of all API 754 process safety indicators, assess their performance, and ensure that the [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2362,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_uag_custom_page_level_css":"","_ppp_document_settings_meta":"{\"product_ids\":[{\"label\":\"Tier-3 LOPC Management, Analysis & Investigation - 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processing facilities keep the records of all API 754 process safety indicators, assess their performance, and ensure that the 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