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Summarv
Safety can become a factor of major importance for evaluation of a Shipyard by Oil
Companies and Ship Owners for deciding to award their vessels for repairs. Safety is
even considered today as an integral part of the Quality System.
A similar Risk Assessment System, titled Formal Safety Assessment System (FSA), is
presently under development by IMO for ships and is expected to be implemented in
the near future.
Finally both Safety and Risk Assessment Systems are closely interrelated with
Environment Protection Systems in an Overall Management System.
The present Paper deals in particular with subjects of Safety, Risk Assessment and
Environment Protection related to Ships, whether these are in the Shipyard under
Construction, Repairs or at Sea.
The Paper describes at first the basic components of a Shipyard Safety System
consisting of:
The Yard's General Policy Statement
The Safe Operating Procedures
The General Safety Instructions
The Safety Documentation
The focus of the description is on main Safe Operating Procedures dealing with the
Vessels' Entry Conditions and the Responsibilities of the Ships Crew and Ship
Management during the ship's stay in Yard. Special attention is also drawn on the
need for proper Training of all Yard's E~nployeesand Subcontractors of the Yard.
Dr. Anthony Antoniou is a Professor (Emeritus) of the Dept. ofNaval Architecture and
Marine Engineering, Technical University of Athens, Greece.
The principles of Risk Assessment, as applied in our days in all modern industries,
are discussed, including the scope of Risk Assessment, the reasons of its
application and the stages involved in the implementation of the system i.e. the
identification of Hazards, the evaluation of the Risks and their prioritization
through a Risk Rating Procedure in order to deal first with the most important
ones.
The methodology of FSA follows the definition of the problem as related to ship
operation, the identification of possible Hazards, the evaluation of the Risks, the
focussing on Risks needing control, the suggestion of Risk control options.
Finally the Paper deals with the Environmental Management System (EMS)
which addresses the immediate and long term impact of the Shipyard and Ships
activities on the Environment, the determination and evaluation of significant
aspects, the identification of Environmental issues and establishment of goals for
improvement.
1.0 INTRODIJCTION
To the above should be added the special condition of the ship undergoing repairs.
Under normal conditions the safety of the ship is under the control of the crew and
subject to the Owning or Managing Company's Operating Procedures. During repairs
however the ship is practically in the hands of the Shipyard and its safety is largely
dependent upon the Yard's personnel and the Yard's Safety System, although Ship
officers and crew continue to have their own share of responsibility.
The ship's safety during repairs requires therefore a combination of efforts from both
crew and Yard's personnel, a knowledge of each other systems and a continuous
cooperation in all safety aspects.
In some modern Yards the Safety Management System, including its recent
development of Risk Assessment, are integrated with the Quality and Environmental
Management Systems to I S 0 9000-2000 and I S 0 14001 respectively. In fact, the
latest issues of I S 0 Quality and Environmental Systems are not only compatible but
in many respects they complen~enteach other in Risk and Safety issues.
,i) Safety 1
1
Quality
[ Environment () Risk
Assessment
Finally, the International Maritime Organization (IMO), recognizing the importance
of Safety and Environmental Protection in ships, is presently developing a formal
Safety Assessment System (FSA) for use on board ships.
The selection of the Ship Repair Yard depends obviously on various factors such as
geographical location, Yard's ability to carry out the repair, quality of work, repair
time, costs, established commercial relationship, etc. Safety and environmental
issues, however, become more and more decisive factors in selecting a Shipyard for
repairs. Major Shipping Companies have become increasingly "Safety and
Environment conscious" and are demanding entirely satisfactory Systems in operation
as a prerequisite for bringing their vessels to the Yard. A good number of the big Oil
Companies are not only requesting information on Safety, Environmental and Risk
Assessment Systems but are actually verifying the implementation of the Systems by
carrying out a thorough inspection of the Yard through a team of experts before
placing the order.
It is the official document which declares the Yard's commitment to promote a Safety
System, which covers the needs of the client and the Shipyard personnel and defines
the general measures which the Management will follow in order to protect every one
from work hazards.
The General Safety Policy describes in more detail the obligations of the Yard but
also its employees and Contractors to ensure safety.
THE PYRAMID OF SAFETY SYSTEM DOCUMENTATION
/ \
Safety Policy
Safe Operating
Procedures (SOP'S)
/ \ Safety Instructions
(SIs)
/ Safety Documents \
Certificates, Reports, Records etc.
Finally, the Policy refers to the Special SOPS for detailed information on the various
subjects.
3.3. The Safe Operating Procedures cover safety subjects related to working
activities.
3.4. The Safety Instructions are of a more general interest and refer to items such
as:
Incident reporting
Emergency control plan
Oil spills
Adverse weather conditions
Fire precautions
Ventilation
The content of the SOPS and SWIs is made known to the various Shipyard Sections,
to the extent it is relevant to them.
As already previously ~nentioned,the Safety of a ship during repairs does not depend
only on the Yard, it requires equally the cooperation of the Vessel Management,
Officers and Crew in all Safety and Environmental aspects.
It is therefore necessary that Owners and Crew be informed, at an early stage, on the
Shipyard Rules and Regulations affecting Safety and Environmental Protection. To
this effect upon the entry of the vessel into the Yard a document normally titled
"Vessel's Entry Conditions", which also forms an integral part of the Yard's "General
Terms and Conditions", is delivered to the Master of the Vessel together with a list of
Safe Operating Procedures of the Yard relevant to the Crew's obligations during
repairs.
The SOPS related to the Crew's responsibilities address, apart from the above, some
more specific issues such as:
The participants of the daily Safety Meetings on Board
The subjects to be discussed and steps to be taken regarding various problems
related to the repair works in order to:
Verify the ship gas status and the validity of gas free certificates
Review all working permits which have been issued
Co-ordinate all work done by the Yard, Contractors and ships crew in
order to ensure that safe working conditions prevail in all areas
Define priorities in case a conflict exists between various activities
Identify the locations where blasting or painting is carried out
Identify the pipes or valves which have to be dismantled within areas
where people are working
Verify the condition of these pipes to ensure no gas or fluids are coming
out
Inform vessel's crew of any X-ray testing which has to be done during the
day
Discuss any violation of safety measures noticed during the previous day.
5.0 TRAINING
It is common knowledge that the best Safety System can not be successful unless
people from top to bottom of the hierarchy are mentalized on Safety and properly
trained to avoid mishaps in their work. The Yard should therefore have in operation a
comprehensive training programme on Safety designed to enhance awareness of
employees on Safety, In particular the Safety Training course system should include.
Every new employee in the Yard should be given a Safety Orientation Course on the
Company's Safety and Fire Prevention Rules.
Series of Safety courses/seminars should be conducted for each trade in their relevant
fields, covering all safety aspects and precautions to be taken in order to conduct the
work in a safe manner.
These courses should cover Riggers, Electricians, Mech. Fitters, Welders, Platers,
Stagers, etc.
In depth Safety Training courses should be conducted for all Supervisors in various
trades. These courses should aim to enhance the feeling of responsibility for each
Supervisor in the workplace.
Safety staff should be, whenever possible, attending Conferences and Seminars with
the aim to enhance and update their knowledge in all safety areas related to repair
industry.
5.5 Safety Courses for Subcontractors and Yard's Safety Officers
In order to improve the Safety organization of the Subcontractors, the Yard should
initiate an accredited training course for Safety Officers appointed fiom all
Subcontractors with more than say 50 men, which should also be attended by Yard's
Safety Officers.
A number of these topics could also be included in the Safety Course for Supervisors
The risks, in general sense, include not only injuries due to accident but also damage
to the health of the workers due to the working environment.
The principles of Risk Assessments are in our days applied in all modern countries
and constitute an essential part of the Health and Safety Management of the Industries
Other reasons for applying Risk Assessment Procedures for prevention of accidents
and damage to health are the following:
Increased morale and motivation of staff
Improvement in quality standards, efficiency and productivity
Improved allocation of resources
Fewer compensation clai~ns
Reduced insurance premiums
Reduction in uninsured losses
A Risk Assessment System should identify the hazards present in any undertaking
(whether arising from work activities, layout of premises, or environmental
conditions) and then evaluating the extent of the risks involved taking into account
whatever precautionary measures are already being taken.
By "hazard: we mean a situation, which has an inherent potential to cause harm such
as injury, illness, damage to equipment or premises etc.
"Risk" is the likelihood or probability that a hazard will cause actual harm.
The "severity of risk" depends on the frequency of occurrence, the number of people
exposed, the seriousness of the consequences, etc.
It is also useful to identify the most serious hazards, which should be dealt with first.
In addition for a shipyard we must consider the environmental hazards resulting from:
Emission of gases
Oil leakage
Air Pollution
Sea water pollution
Adverse weather conditions
The identification of the people a risk should involve not only those normally working
in the plant, but also people occasionally exposed to the risks, such as Contractors or
Visitors who may be particularly vulnerable due to their inexperience.
Risk Rating is used to prioritize risks so that the most important can be tackled first
and can be derived by the formula.
Risk Rating depends also on the special conditions in each industry . One way of
using the Risk Formula is the following:
a) Assign a letter form A to C to denote the severity of harm or its
consequences (see Table 1 )
b) Assign a number from I to 3 to denote the likelihood of the event
causing the hazard to be realized (see Table 2)
c) Establish a Risk Rating chart showing the posible combinations (se
Table 3)
TABLE 1
Rate Hazard
severity/consequence
A= death
major injury
major damage or loss to
property or equipment
C= minor injury
minor damage to
property or equipment
TABLE 2
Rate Risk
I= extremely likely to
occur
3= slight chance of
occurring
TABLE 3
Risk Rating Chart
A1
Unacceptable: must receive immediate attention
to remove or reduce risk
Low priority
Risk Assessment is not applicable only to Shipyards and other industrial plants but
also to ships.
The Maritime Safety Committee (MSC) is developing since a number of years ago the
Guidelines for the application of a Formal Safety Assessment System (FSA) for use in
the International Maritime Organization (IMO) Rule-Making Process.
The purpose of FSA is to be used as a tool in the evaluation of new Regulations for
maritime safety and protection of Maritime environment. FSA may also be applied
by an Individual Owner who wishes to integrate FSA into the Safety Management
System (SMS) of his fleet in compliance with the International Safety Management
Code (ISM).
The methodology used by FSA is very similar to the one previously described for land
industries i.e. to:
Identify the hazards on Board Ships
Define the risks
Establish the risk contribution
Evaluate the risk
Focus on areas of risk needing control
Identify potential risk controlling measures
Devise risk control options
Suggest decision making recommendations
Collect feedback information and data
Manage the F.S.A. results
Assess the costlbenefit of Risk Control
Following the hazard identification the accident categories relevant to the ships being
considered are established by reference to the generic list given in Table 5.
TABLE 5
Example of Accident Categories
Contact or collision
Explosion
External hazards
Fire (flame, heat, smoke and fumes)
Flooding
Grounding or stranding
Hazardous substances
Loss of hull integrity
Machinery failure (computer, equipment and system faults)
Payload related
7.4. Ranking of Accident Scenarios
TABLE 6
Severity Index
TABLE 7
Frequency Index
SEVERITY
1 2 3 4
FI FREQUENCY Minor Significant Severe Catastrophic
7 Frequent 8 9 10 11
6 7 8 9 10
5 Reasonably probable 6 7 8 9
4 5 6 7 8
3 Remote 4 5 6 7
2 3 4 5 6
1 Extremely remote 2 3 4 5
Additional human element issues, which may have to be considered in the analysis of
the problem, are:
This paper on Safety and Risk Assessment would not be complete without mentioning
the close relationship of these topics to the Environmental Management System. An
Environmental Management System (EMS) is the part of an overall Management
System that addresses the immediate and long-term impact an Organization's
Products, Services and Operations have on the Environment through:
On going evaluation of practices
Establishment of goals
Assignment of responsibilities
Allocation of resources
In fact the impact on the Environment of certain activities may equally affect the
employees directly or indirectly and vise versa. Modem Yards are considering
compliance and certification to I S 0 - 14001 E.M.S., many requirements of which are
also compatible with the new Quality System 9001-2000 and can be easily
incorporated therein. The new I S 0 9001-2000 includes, for instance, a clause 5.2 on
identifying all "Legal and Regulatory requirements" applicable to quality aspects of
the products and this coincides with clause 4.3.2 of I S 0 14001, whilst the Clause on
"Measurement analysis and in~provement"of the first corresponds with Clause 4.5 of
I S 0 14001 on "Checking and Corrective Action".
-
DO : Develop a documented structure and responsibility
: Ensure training and awareness of employers
: Ensure internal and external communications
: Establish and maintain documentation
: Ensure operational control
: Ensure emergency preparedness and response.
The main areas, activities and environmental aspects to be surveyed in a Shipyard are
the following:
Work Sites
Plate Shops Warehouses
Machine Shop Storage areas
Pipe Shop Waste disposal areas
Carpenter Shop On board vessels
Electrical Shop Blasting, painting areas
Prefabrication/Assembly/Erection Medical Center, etc.
Graving Dock/Building Berth
Having listed the Main Activities Practices and Environmental Aspects the next job is
to evaluate them and determine which ones of them are the most significant to be
dealt with first.
One method of doing that according to DnV is on the basis of the following criteria:
A. Probability of occurrence
B. Frequency of detection
C. Nature of consequence
The evaluation of each aspect is then carried out on the basis of Table 9 through the
use of the formula:
TABLE 9
Determination and Evaluation of
Significant Environmental Aspects
Another more elaborate method proposed by DnV is the evaluation based on the
following parameters, as applicable:
Quantity
Occurrence
Significance of impact
Legislation
Controls
* Preventive Mechanisms
The scores for each paranieter of the above is given through Table 10.
The sample evaluation is then carried out by multiplying all the scores, as shown in
Table 1 1.
TABLE 10
Evaluation Criteria and Rating. Table I
Score
1
~uantity 1 2
~ccurrencc I 3
impact 1 4
Legislation I 5
Controls I
/ EZ:;:;
Mechanism
Not meeting
10
legtslatlon
Excess~ve Cont~nuous Fatal to More than 24
5
human Itfe hours
4
hours
Immediately
month or
1 less frequent
under reliable
TABLE 11
Sample Evaluation
Once the Environmental or work risks have been established and evaluated we must
develop a list of
Objectives
Targets
Implementation Schedules
with the aim to deal with them by order of priority, in the best possible way, and
maintain a commitment for "continual improvement".
As previously stated, the Ship, whether at Sea or under Repairs in a Yard, is subject to
a number of hazardous situations. The objective of the Safety Service in a Yard and
respectively that of the Ship's Crew should be to minimize the incidence of accidents
as far as practicable, with the goal to eliminate them.
Protection of the Environment is an equally important matter and should be taken into
consideration in all activities of the Yard or Crew.
Finally the role of the Ship's Management in achieving these goals by adopting and
supporting the necessary Procedures should not be underestimated.
Most important of all is to realize that the Safety of the Ship and the protection of the
Environment is the result of a combined effort of three parties involved i.e. the
Shipyard, the Crew and the Ship's Management.
REFERENCES
Acknowledgments
I wish to express my sincere thanks and appreciation to the 1MO Assistant Secretary
General Mr. Efthimios Mitropoulos for his contribution to this paper in relation to the
MSC work on the Guidelines for Formal Safety Assessment.