Our Services

By setting and communicating appropriate strategies at the start of a project, the chances of success increase significantly. At UCD, we specialise in delivering proportionate strategies, whether it be for a specific area such as a HAZOP strategy, strategies to manage specific hazards, or overall Safety Case integration strategies which manage complex interfaces between multi-disciplinary project teams.

We adapt our strategies to suit the needs of the client, the complexity of the project, and the significance of the hazard.

We have experience of delivering Nuclear Safety Case submissions throughout the entire lifecycle of nuclear facilities, including New Build, Commissioning, Operational, Modifications, Post Operational and Decommissioning phases.

We can help to support Periodic Reviews of Safety (PRS) where we have experience of collating operational data, abnormal events, shortfalls (including tolerated deterministic deficiencies) and reviewing / updating safety case documents, as deemed necessary to support the overall process.

We have the knowledge and experience to provide independent reviews of safety submissions in addition to providing guidance and advice to improve safety justifications and add measurable value to the overall submission.

We take a pragmatic view by focussing on what’s important to Nuclear Safety, and aim to engage constructively with authoring teams.

Hazard Identification is the foundation from which the rest of the safety case is developed. At UCD, we can organise and facilitate HAZID activities including Hazard Operability Studies (HAZOPs), Structured What-if Techniques (SWIFTs), Plant Walkdowns and Operational Experience Reviews (OPEX).

We have fully trained resources who can operate in either Secretary or Chair roles and we can deliver the necessary preparation and write-up for initiating and closing out the associated workshop activities.

To ensure maximum value for money, we tailor every study to reflect the complexity of the design, the significance of the hazard, and the stage/maturity of the project.

We can consolidate, group, screen and sentence hazards as deemed necessary in preparation for onward assessment. We proactively produce and maintain the Golden Thread to ensure full traceability throughout the Safety Case.

We can deliver all aspects of Hazard Analysis, including: Initiating Event Frequency determination, Dose Consequence Assessment, Deterministic Safety Assessment including Design Basis Analysis (DBA), Safety Functional Requirement (SFR) derivation, Probabilistic Safety Assessment (PSA), Shortfall Identification and ALARP justification.

We recognise that the claims made in the Safety Case impact the constructability, operability and maintainability of the facility, which is why we proactively seek to collaborate with specialist disciplines (Human Factors, Engineers, End Uses etc.) to develop safety claims that are useable and fit-for-purpose

We can deliver Engineering Schedules and coordinate substantiation activities to prioritise the underpinning of safety claims which have the greatest impact towards the overall safety justification. We also have experience of identifying, categorising and sentencing any substantiation shortfalls raised, alongside providing suitable shortfall resolution strategies which may include direct remediation or optioneering in order to achieve a suitable resolution.

We can deliver optioneering studies to underpin design decisions and address shortfalls. We can operate in either Secretary or Chair roles and deliver the necessary preparation and write-up to initiate and close out workshop activities.

At UCD we aim to ensure any optioneering done is proportionate to the decision being made and will utilise the best tool for the job, whether that be short direct arguments, quantitative options appraisal, or something in between.

Our specialists have experience ranging from supporting the development of key design features to informing strategic ALARP decisions.

We have experience of supporting projects to create programme plans which fully integrate Safety Case delivery alongside the Engineering Design and other discipline workstreams.

We have previously provided full deliverable breakdown plans in the form of Gantt Charts which identify key dependencies, interfaces and delivery milestones which are underpinned with the confidence of completing resource utilisation loading and risk tracking. We have also provided direct Safety Case input into existing client project plans which has helped to ensure confidence that the Safety Case commitments and responsibilities can be achieved to support overall project goals and milestones. 

Members of our team have proven experience of holding the responsibility of an Intelligent Customer (IC) role, providing oversight and guidance of safety case delivery to ensure the client needs and expectations are met. We pride ourselves in providing clear communication and feedback which returns confidence from stakeholders and ensures a right first-time delivery from the supplier.

We can deliver bespoke training courses covering a range of topics from high-level overviews of what a safety case is to detailed technical training courses covering HAZOPs, Hazard Analysis etc.

We will work with you to understand your requirements and tailor the training material to provide maximum benefit.

We can hep you to produce, review and update your Nuclear Safety Procedures. Using our collective experience of working across multiple licensees, we can provide suggestions or deliver against improvement plans.