Analysis of Barriers in Marine Operations on Offshore Oil Installations

The project Risk Modeling – Integration of Organizational, Human and Technical factors is developing a model for quantifying barrier performance related to major risk hazards (OMT-model). The model combines knowledge relating to organizational, human and technical aspects, and is developed in close relationship between research centers, universities and offshore operators. The OMT-model has been tested for process leakages on onshore plants with good results. The same methodology has been used to identify the risk influence factors (RIF) — or Performance Shaping Factors — related to marine operations. One of the main risk contributors in a quantified risk analysis (QRA) is collision between FPSO and shuttle tanker and the method is used on this case. QRAs together with data from the yearly project “Trends in Risk Level” performed by the Petroleum Safety Authority in Norway, incident and accident investigations, operating procedures and expert judgment form the basis for identifying the RIFs and the results are summarized in this paper. By controlling the RIFs and accompanying identified root causes the probability and consequences of a hazard or accident will be largely reduced compared with the present situation.