Hydrogen Consulting
Hydrogen Consulting
Helping your business achieve regulatory compliance and operational safety throughout the entire lifecycle of hydrogen projects—from concept to operation.
Unlike many process safety consultancies, our services are built on direct operational experience at hydrogen manufacturing sites. Our consultation is applied to the full lifecycle of hydrogen projects, with practical support that integrates third-party inputs, addresses public and planning concerns, and ensures risks are assessed and managed in context — whether your site is COMAH or not.
Pre-planning advice for Hydrogen projects
Hydrogen projects often face early-stage challenges from delays due to stretched regulatory authorities, to planning applications rejected. In our interactions with the HSE, we’ve seen that a high proportion of hydrogen-related planning applications are rejected due to poor site selection and lack of supporting safety justification. Public perception issues can also create resistance, especially when safety and environmental concerns aren’t addressed. This service is for project developers, engineering teams, and safety managers who want to avoid these issues. We help you identify regulatory requirements, safety risks, and early problems before detailed design begins.
Our Hydrogen advisory services typically include the following.
- Expert advice on concept /early-stage projects to avoid unnecessary delays with early screening for location issues prior to engaging with regulatory authorities.
- Fire and Explosion modelling – to support decisions regarding site / plant location.
- Representation at public consultation events – to address any process safety concerns.
- Early advice regarding Planning (Hazardous Substances) Regulations and the Control of Major Accident Hazards (COMAH) Regulations.
With this support, you will feel more confident in your planning submissions backed by technical justifications for site location and selected safety measures. Most importantly, you’ll be able to demonstrate regulatory alignment from the outset, giving your project the best chance of progressing smoothly through the planning stage.
With this support, you’ll be able to bring together fragmented assessments into a coherent, risk management approach. You’ll have an assurance that hydrogen-related risks are being properly identified and assessed — not just at the equipment level, but across your whole site. Whether COMAH or not, your project will be better positioned to demonstrate ALARP, integrate with existing operations. Most importantly, you’ll have a clearer understanding of your risks, enabling safer, more cost-effective decisions throughout the project lifecycle.
Hazard Identification and Risk Assessment for Hydrogen projects
Hydrogen Risk Assessment Methodologies
- Fire and explosion modelling – to help you justify plant and process location.
- Hazard Identification (HAZID) – early screening of project hazards to reduce risk in a cost-effective manner by avoiding late project stage resolution.
- Hazard and Operability (HAZOP) study – risk assessment of the detailed design.
- Occupied Buildings Risk Assessment – to ensure that building location and design presents acceptably low risk to the occupants.
- Functional Safety – Addressing whether Safety Instrumented Systems (SIS) are needed and what Safety Integrity Level (SIL) is required.
- COMAH Risk Assessment – the identification of COMAH Major Accident Hazards followed by suitable analysis and assessment to demonstrate ALARP.
Regulatory support for COMAH & Non-COMAH Hydrogen facilities
Hydrogen presents a unique regulatory challenge. Unlike most dangerous substances, the threshold quantities for the Planning (Hazardous Substances) Regulations and COMAH Regulations do not align — with planning consent required at 2 tonnes, and COMAH applying from 5 tonnes (Lower Tier) and 50 tonnes (Upper Tier)
This means some facilities may require hazardous substances consent but not COMAH compliance, while others below both thresholds may not require either. In these cases, operators are often left asking:
- What compliance is needed?
- How do we know risks are acceptable?
- Are suitable measures in place?
- Can we demonstrate ALARP?
This service supports site leaders, project managers, and HSEQ professionals in navigating these grey areas — helping you understand your obligations, assess risks appropriately, and ensure your hydrogen facility is safe and compliant.
In our experience, enforcement often stems from stretched site resources, where individuals responsible for COMAH are also managing multiple other priorities. As a result, key safety activities may be missed or not picked up by internal systems, only to be revealed during inspections. In some cases, sites have completed the necessary compliance work but lack the confidence or competence to explain it effectively to regulators.
A further challenge is that site teams often struggle to interpret regulatory language or understand what the HSE and EA are actually asking for — which can delay resolution and lead to misaligned responses. A common reaction to enforcement is to send the same individuals on training and expect them to resolve the issue — but without time to build real competence, these efforts are often rejected, leading to further interventions and escalating scrutiny. This then becomes a cyclical problem.
All of these situations are avoidable through adopting a longer term partnership approach to manage this situation in advance.
- Resolution of existing COMAH enforcement actions.
- Coaching and mentoring — we work as an extension of your team, providing ongoing guidance to build internal capability and confidence.
- Intervention visit dry runs — we simulate HSE inspections using relevant delivery guides and industry standards to identify potential issues before regulators do.
- Representation at intervention meetings — we attend alongside your team and contribute to technical discussions with the HSE and EA.
- COMAH audits and PSPI development — we assess your process safety performance and identify weaknesses that could trigger regulatory concern.
With this support, your business will be better prepared for COMAH intervention meetings. Your team will be more confident in engaging with the HSE and EA, reducing the likelihood of enforcement action.
Client Results
Our Commitment to Process Safety Excellence Has Been Recognised
Thermal process engineer – UK – Building Product Sector
“Kris provided valuable guidance during the initial assessment of our kiln in the journey of its alteration to hydrogen. The study was thorough, and the recommendations were practical and tailored, helping us shaping safely the next stages of the project.”
Scott Francis - Head of ERF Operations North
“Kris’s deep industry expertise and hands-on implementation experience has proven invaluable in helping our business address specialised challenges unique to our sector. Their process safety guidance continues to deliver effective solutions across several assignments.”
Senior Risk and Assurance Manager – Hazardous Waste Sector
“We’ve worked with Kris on multiple projects, and he’s consistently delivered outstanding results. His technical expertise, business insight, and pragmatic approach make him an invaluable partner”
EHHS Manager at Evonik
“… Kris has a very clear understanding of many different aspects of process safety and the UK COMAH regulatory environment. His professional input and guidance have provided much added value to the process safety studies undertaken at Evonik …”