RESUMO
Computer systems have greatly increased our overall efficiency and quality of work. The use of software to perform PHAs has been steadily increasing since the early 90's. PHAs, especially HAZOPs, place considerable demands on facilitators and team members. since PHAs are time consuming and fairly costly attention must be paid to the increase in efficiency afforded by computerization. In addition, documentation and auditability are significant concerns. The paper examines the user end goals, factors in developing the user interfase, filing and data storage, the use of risk matrices and knowledge based libraries, different PHA methodologies to be considered and some common misconceptions about PHA software. The process of envolving and developing new canadian software, DDM - HAZOP, is described (AU)
