Composite pressure vessels have been used for over 40 years in a variety of military, aerospace, marine, transportation, stationary, and vehicle applications. Codes, standards, and guidelines have been developed to address vessel performance in these high pressure applications by ASME and American Bureau of Shipping (ABS). A risk or hazard identification analysis may be conducted during qualification and approval process. Prototype and qualification testing in these standards validate the design and anticipated operating conditions. Knowledge has been gained from qualification testing, field experience, and inspection that supports selection of materials and design configurations for marine and land based applications. Periodic inspection of vessels mitigates risk, particularly in terms of detecting environmental and mechanically induced damage before failure can occur. This paper was written jointly between ABS and Lincoln Composites through the certification process of Lincoln’s Titan™ project. This paper will outline qualification of technology and, testing requirements, as well as discuss the basis for hazard mitigation and material selection in the marine environment. Paper published with permission.

The National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) develops consensus codes and standards for fire and life safety for a wide array of occupancies, including the maritime industry. With documents originating in the early 1920’s, NFPA maritime safety standards reflect current practices in vessel design and operations, new hazards, and new technology. These documents include safe practices associated with confined space entry and hot work operations during construction, maintenance, and repair; shipyard fire protection safety management; and suppression system design, installation, and testing/maintenance. This presentation highlights those consensus standards contributing to safety management within the maritime industry. Paper published with permission.

What was common between the capsizing of the cruise liner Costa Concordia, engine fire on the Carnival Triumph and the sinking of the Deepwater Horizon rig? In all cases, the people impacted did not believe or find that the authorities, whether public or private, were capable of meeting their immediate needs. Consequently, such biases led to collective behavior or ‘herding’ with devastating outcomes. Holding true to its mission of marine safety, the United States Coast Guard (USCG) finds itself in roles of maritime incident management and provider of training for examination of foreign ships carrying U.S. passengers. Also, following land-based costal events such as Hurricane Harvey, the USCG is called upon to perform rescue operations in which risk assessment through effective communication between stakeholders becomes extremely important. Accordingly, this paper proposes a performance-based approach to occupant safety, occupant circulation, and hazard communication so that both classification rules can be developed and guidelines can be proposed for inclusion in the USCG Incident Management Handbook . Advances in the analysis and modelling of the movement of people, especially in building fires, have established the decision-making processes that individuals or groups undergo before reacting to an imminent danger. When a large number of people have a high commitment either to activity or to inactivity, it becomes important that an equilibrium solution is adopted and the resources are allocated accordingly. The author proposes evaluating incident management as a dynamic system. Like any dynamic system, incident management for any disaster, evolves with time in terms of scale, needed inputs and desired outputs. Engineers today have the capability to influence the outputs by establishing protocols for sharing of information and resources among the stakeholders. The author presented a paper on a similar topic at ASME’s Dynamic Systems and Controls Conference (DSCC 2015) 3 . Paper published with permission.