Chapter 41 – Formal Safety Assessment Applied to Shipping Industry

This chapter discusses the Formal Safety Assessment (FSA) applied to the shipping industry. The overall safety is influenced by the hardware, individuals and organization, and external environment, which may vary during the ship's life cycle. The chapter discusses the ship's hardware, stakeholders, and its life cycle. The integrity of these systems is vital to the operation of the ship. Improper operation or accidental system failure can directly trigger accidents, which may lead to the loss of cargo and human life. The ship life cycle is explained in this chapter. In the FSA regime, a hazard is broadly defined as a situation with the potential to cause harm to human life, the environment, and property. Hazards become a problem when they develop into accidents; generally this occurs through a sequence of events. This chapter also discusses hazards such as fire, explosions, loss of structural integrity, loss of power, loading errors, and extreme environmental conditions. Some sections in this chapter deal with the FSA. The major functional components of the FSA are outlined, and followed by a detailed description of each component. Finally, the challenges, limitations, and concerns regarding the FSA application in the shipping industry are discussed. The consequence is conditional depending on the probability of the accident. The general consequences of ship accidents are measured as loss of human life, cargo, damage to ships, damage to environment, etc. Risk estimation can identify the areas with high risk, the main contributors to risk-specific hazards.