Action Item Tracker
Template (Excel)

An action item tracker is the register that captures every recommendation raised in a process safety study (HAZOP, HAZID, SIL, LOPA, PHA), an incident investigation, or a safety audit, along with the owner, priority, target closeout date, closeout evidence, and independent verification. CCPS and API process-safety guidance require that every recommendation has an assigned owner, a closeout date, and verifiable closeout evidence. The tracker is the audit trail proving the operator addressed every recommendation per the agreed risk-reduction commitment, which is a regulatory expectation under PSM and Seveso regimes.

At minimum: action ID, source study (HAZOP / HAZID / SIL / LOPA / PHA), study reference and node, recommendation text, recommendation type (engineering, procedural, training, inspection), discipline, equipment or tag reference, risk category, priority, action owner, action approver, target closeout date, revised target with justification, closeout evidence reference, closeout status, closeout date, and independent verification. The template adds an MOC Reference column so engineering recommendations that require management of change are linked to the MOC record. See the HAZID standard reference.

Pathnovo, an engineering document intelligence platform, auto-extracts recommendations directly from HAZOP and HAZID worksheets per IEC 61882, populates the tracker with node, deviation, cause, consequence, recommendation, and proposed owner, and routes the action through closeout. Recommendations are linked to the affected equipment in the equipment list and to the P&ID node. Open critical-priority actions are flagged on the operator's risk dashboard. See the HAZOP and safety register extraction workflow.

A HAZOP register is the worksheet output of the HAZOP study itself, with one row per node deviation capturing cause, consequence, existing safeguard, and recommendation. The action item tracker is the closeout register that takes every recommendation from the HAZOP register (plus recommendations from HAZID, SIL, LOPA, PHA, audits, and incidents) and tracks them through to verified closeout. The two registers cross-reference via the action ID. The HAZOP register is the engineering study record; the tracker is the operations and assurance record. See the HAZOP register template.

Priority is assigned per the operator's risk matrix and the residual risk after the recommendation is implemented. Standard EPC and operator practice: Critical (intolerable risk, target closeout before commissioning), High (ALARP-with-action, 6 month target), Medium (12 month target), Low (next planned shutdown). Target dates are set by the action approver, not the action owner. Revised target dates require formal justification logged in the tracker. CCPS process-safety practice requires no action to remain open beyond the closeout deadline without documented re-prioritization.

On brownfield revamp scope, actions arise from the revalidation HAZOP and the management-of-change HAZID for the proposed change. The tracker captures both existing-plant actions (often inherited from prior PHAs that were not closed) and new actions from the revamp study. Inherited actions are flagged with Source Study = 'Prior PHA' and their original date, so the regulator sees the full history. Indian PSU revamps add an OISD reference column where applicable. See the HAZOP and safety intelligence solution.

Engineering recommendations that change the design (for example, add a relief device, upsize a line, change a material) must close through management of change (MOC). The MOC Reference column links the action to the MOC record. MOC drives the design change, the re-HAZID or HAZOP delta review for the change, the document update, and the operator notification. The action is only marked Closed when the MOC is fully closed and the design change is in the as-built drawings. See the management of change standard reference.