Does inherent safety mean that all hazards have been eliminated from the process during the initial design?

Inherent safety is a philosophy that aims to minimize the potential for accidents and hazards by design, rather than relying on complex safety systems or procedures to mitigate risks once they have been introduced. While the goal of inherent safety is to reduce or eliminate hazards in the design phase, it does not guarantee that all hazards can be completely eliminated from a process.

Processes often involve certain risks that cannot be entirely removed due to the nature of the materials, the reactions involved, or other operational factors. Instead, inherent safety focuses on reducing the severity and likelihood of these hazards through design choices such as using less hazardous materials, simplifying processes, or designing equipment to be less prone to failure.

Therefore, saying that inherent safety means all hazards have been eliminated would be misleading, as it recognizes that while significant reductions in hazards can be achieved, some risks may still remain in the system. Thus, stating that inherent safety does not mean the complete elimination of all hazards is accurate.