RELIABILITY TECHNOLOGY AND LEGISLATIVE NEEDS FOR OPERATIONAL SAFETY

Legislative requirements do not necessarily anticipate innovative conceptual and real designs for offshore purposes. Requirements should however be seen to encourage them. This paper describes some of the modern reliability methods currently available, including human reliability, and their application to some cases. Their relevance to safety assessment is highlighted. The relationship between these methods and existing and future legislative needs are discussed. it is concluded that greater emphasis should be placed upon these methods in the future.