Analysis of safety‐critical software elements in offshore safety studies

“The offshore installations and wells (design and construction, etc.) regulations” (DCR) requires that all safety‐critical elements in both the system and software domains be assessed and evaluated. In this paper, following a brief review of offshore system (application) safety analysis, offshore software safety analysis is introduced. It is followed by a study of combining offshore system safety analysis with software safety analysis. The typical standards for the development of safety‐critical systems in several industrial sectors are discussed with particular reference to formal methods. A generic offshore software safety analysis framework is proposed with discussions. Formal methods for producing safety requirements specifications are then discussed. A case study is used to demonstrate safety requirements modelling for safety‐critical software development. Finally recommendations for further development in offshore software safety analysis are given.