Risk Assessment on Ships

Uncomplicating excellence

..safety management objectives of the Company should, ... establish safeguards against all identified risks...

What is Risk assessment ?

A risk assessment is simply a careful examination of what, in your work, could cause harm to people, valuable things or the environment so that you can weigh up whether you have taken enough precautions or should do more to prevent harm.
Health and safety executive , of the Government of the UK

Should Risk Assessment be complex and rigid ?

The COSWP (and other legal document) states that there are no fixed rules about how risk assessments should be undertaken. Its advice is on good practice and listed later in this module. The process should be simple, but meaningful. The assessment of risks must be suitable and sufficient .

The process need not be overcomplicated.

-- Code of Safe Working Practices for UK Merchant Ships (COSWP).

IS IT SIMPLE AND UNCOMPLICATED FOR YOU ?

Most Guidelines -- primarily originating with the UK Government , and drafted by people with impeccable legal and scholarly credentials have gradually tended to become simpler and less complex. Take a look at Official UK documents issued in 1996 2002 2006 -- in the following 3 Slides.

The 10 step process recommended by the British Standard 8800:2004 Pg. 41 for work onboard UK merchant ships. (From 1996)

The 5 Step Process when Decisions involve new costs such as Tugs/Guards and company policy (since 2002)

The 5 Step process recommended by the UK Health and Safety executive (dated 2006)
Step 1 -- Identify the hazards Step 2 -- Decide who might be harmed and how Step 3 -- Evaluate the risks and decide on precautions Step 4 -- Record your findings and implement them Step 5 -- Review your assessment and update if necessary.
Don t overcomplicate the process.
In many organisations, the risks are well known and the necessary control measures are easy to apply. You probably already know whether, for example, you have employees who move heavy loads and so could harm their backs, or where people are most likely to slip or trip. If so, check that you have taken reasonable precautions to avoid injury

What is the legal Aim of Risk Assessment ?

The aim is to minimise accidents and ill health on board ship.

Was there a formal assessment and management of Risk here ?

Are legal requirements the only reasons for you to do Risk Assessment?
Legislation now requires Risk assessment as in the ISM code and the COSWP for UK Ships. Legislation trails the industry best practices such as OCIMF s published requirements. Best practices trail the common sense of seafarers applying their presence of mind when faced with difficult situations.

High Situational awareness in the shipboard team leads the natural Risk Assessment process in all cases.

Legal requirements or Continual Improvement ?

While legally required risk assessment oriented on static documentation is useful AFTER an event, Risk assessment as part of a continual improvement spiral is a dynamic process leading to professional excellence.
Assess Review

The objectives of this module

The objective of this module is to simply connect the process of formal risk assessment to the continual improvement spiral --which comes naturally with common sense, presence of mind and HIGH SITUATIONAL AWARENESS in a shipboard team --- and leads to excellence.

Picture courtesy :Armin Kbelbeck , http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Thierry_Omeyer_10.jpg

High Situational Awareness -Whenever we have a high situational awareness -- we are continuously carrying out risk assessment to ensure that our interests are safe with the unavoidable laws of nature.

Picture courtesy : Mark Hebden, British Oceanographic Data Centre (BODC) image archive

When is Formal Risk assessment needed ?

When we work with complex systems in which all consequences of our actions are not immediately and continuously apparent to everyone formal risk assessment is needed.

What is the difference between a Hazard and a Risk ?

A

hazard is anything that may cause harm,

such as chemicals, electricity, working from ladders, an open drawer, etc;

Risk is the

chance, high or
low, that somebody could be harmed by these and other hazards, together with an indication of could be.

how

serious the harm

What is a Hazard ?
A hazard is a source of potential harm or damage or a situation with potential for harm or damage;

Fire Hazard

What is meant by RISK ?

RISK has two elements: the likelihood that a hazard may occur; the consequences of the hazardous event.

Burn Risk Severe and Likely

Picture courtesy :Roi Boshi - Kids plying with fire next to their Lag Ba omer bonfire

Does Human Competence matter ?

YES . In the absence of historical data, an estimate of the

likelihood can be made based on the experience and judgment of the persons
carrying out the Risk Assessment. Unlike with Government regulated databases ashore ,

a use-able historical database of accidents is seldom available on board.

Fire Hazard with Burn Risk mitigated to low and unlikely

Picture courtesy Boyle s farm

Should risk assessment and planning be pursued until all risks are eliminated completely ?

NO. The amount of effort that is put into an

assessment should depend on the level of risks identified and whether those risks are already controlled by satisfactory precautions or procedures to ensure that they are as low as reasonably practicable. (ALARP)

HAZARD

RISK

YOU DO

YOU PLAN

REVIEW

How can you identify hazards ?

Asking these three questions should help to identify where there is a hazard: Is there a source of harm? Who (or what) could be harmed? How could harm occur?

For a ship approaching a port to anchor What kinds of Hazards can be present ?
An example of the way Hazards can be listed from the outside of the vessel and going inwards is Natural Or God Made external hazards Man Made external hazards Operational Hazards caused by the planned task itself. Personnel Hazards Internal and Hidden Factors affecting judgment in individuals.

What do you understand by Natural or God made external Hazards ?

Natural or God Made external Hazards can be Wind , Sea, Current, Weather, Shallow depths, Rocky seabed, etc.

What can be the Man Made external Hazards for a vessel approaching anchorage ?
Man Made external Hazards can be Traffic, Piracy, Smuggling, Terrorism, Submerged structures like fiber cables, Gas pipelines, strong background lights affecting visibility etc.

What is meant by operational hazards ?

Operational Hazards are those created by the planned task itself Squat, Bank Effect, Ships momentum, The momentum of the anchor, Loss of steering in shallows, and machinery and management failure.

What are the personnel related hazards ?

Personnel Hazards can include Injury due to weather, incompetence, Debris from anchor chain, brake handling, slips , trips , strains from manual work and from not wearing PPE.

What hidden and internal factors can be hazardous in an operation like anchoring?
Hidden factors can include -Charter requirements for speed, Reporting and communication requirements adding to workload, Inadequate rest , unresolved domestic and interpersonal concerns , and any other concerns causing abnormal stress in individuals.

Murphy s law and the hazards which can be discarded from formal risk assessment ?
A useful thumb rule with great practical value in deciding which hazard to ignore is Murphy s law which states --ANYTHING THAT CAN GO WRONG , WILL GO WRONG ! The way around is to make it impossible for things to go wrong for the planned task.

Hazards that clearly possess negligible potential for harm should not be documented or given further consideration, provided that appropriate control measures remain in place. -COSWP

How can we ensure all relevant hazards have been identified ?

The person doing the risk assessment should take the latest updated inputs from all those involved in the plan.

MEASURING and MANAGING RISK

Risk: is the combination of the probability of occurrence of an event and the severity of its consequences.

R oq = k o q (p oq * s oq)
Where, R p s And, k is a function of :the probability of occurrence of an event; is the severity of consequences of that event; is a factor that represents the Human Actor / Factor.

Note: o indicates the presence of Risk Increasing Factors And q indicates the presence of Risk Decreasing Factors

What is the aim of an effective Plan ?

The aim of planning is to mitigate the risks from all known hazards effectively and elegantly.

Specific points here would include : Depth of water, nature of bottom, speed planned for anchoring, time of tide change, Which anchor, how

What is the aim of a briefing or toolbox meeting before the planned operation ?

The briefing or toolbox meeting before an operation has the extremely important purpose of ensuring that the Plan arising from the risk assessment -- is effectively communicated to each person participating in the operation , or affected by the job.

How can you ensure the effective communication of the Plan ?

It is important while briefing the team on the plan that the Communications loop is completed . Taking feedback from each participant , if necessary by questioning, and confirming to ensure that all hazards are addressed and

What should be the aim of the team when actioning the plan ?
Team members need to remain fully alert and present or Situationally Aware when actioning the plan as decided and alive to the possibility of new hazards emerging. The plan must be adhered to as the ISM Code and Quality Assurance procedures require Do what you plan .

When should a departure from the plan be considered ?

If a new un-anticipated risk or hazard emerges, a contingency plan must be integrated with a revised risk assessment, and communicated with the full team. Only in such a case should the initial plan be amended to mitigate the full new set of risks.

How does Debriefing take the team into a continual improvement spiral ?
The last element in the continuous improvement spiral is Review, which is based on raw accurate inputs immediately after the operation. This review then becomes the basis for evolving a better more scientifically evolved Assessment of the risks in say anchoring -the next time .
Assess

When should the debriefing take place ?

It is often impractical to conduct a full debrief with all participants immediately after an anchoring operation due to tiredness. But this exercise is of great value in enhancing team skills even when quick observations are straightforwardly recorded for later analysis.

What About Legal Documentation ?

The above process of -1. Assessing i.e. Identifying hazards and estimating risks. 2. Planning to mitigate all relevant risks. 3. Implementing the risk control as Planned. 4. Debriefing and reviewing. -- If recorded in any simple format, covers the legal requirements for documentation. However your company s procedures and formats take precedence for your actions in all cases.

The risk assessment Flowchart according to the British Standard and the COSWP

RISK ASSESSMENT AND MANAGEMENT

RISK = HUMAN COMPETENCE LEVEL X SEVERITY OF HARM X CHANCE OF HAPPENING

SEVERITY OF HARM

CHANCE OF HAPPENING

R oq = k o q (p oq * s oq) Risk = Human Competence (Likelihood x Severity

IS THE PLAN OK TO GO AHEAD WITH ?

Is more planning and preparation required to control risks before a Go Ahead ?

What preparations are the most effective in Controlling Risk ?

ELIMINATE the risky work (The most effective measure) SUBSTITUTE -- the risky work with a less risky options ENGINEERING CONTROLS segregate the hazard from the people or things that can
harmed.

ADMINISTRATIVE CONTROLS Procedures, instructions, training, supervisio PERSONAL PROTECTIVE EQUIPMENT (last resort , least -effecti

Whe

isk tr l a iti al

ti s re sts ?

ire

When can Risk control options require additional costs ?

Implementing the Risk Assessment & Review

1. On completion, the Risk Assessment should be made available for review by all likely to be affected by it. 2. Review of the Risk Assessment is necessary when it it is no longer valid or is suspect. 3. Review is the Risk Assessment is also necessary when significant changes have taken place since the RA. 4. The RA must be reviewed by operational personnel who may be involved especially if they were not involved in RA.

The following slides have additional notes and references which may be of help.

Steps for Shipboard Risk Assessment

1. Divide the task into a stage-wise series of activities that can be identified and documented. 2. Identify all the hazards that are associated with each of activities that have been documented. 3. Ascertain consequences or impact if the hazards are develop to their full potential. 4. Consider the severity of consequences of each hazard and identify the relevant band with reference to Table B.

Steps for Shipboard Risk Assessment

5. Consider the probability or likelihood of accident occurring and identify the relevant band with reference to Table B. 6. Determine the resultant Risk level in the Risk Assessment Form under the Risk Factor Column R. 7. Ascertain whether the Risk is High, Medium, Low or Negligible by the Chart shading in Risk Matrix Table. 8. Identify preventive and mitigating actions that would bring the Risk to an acceptable level. Note them Action.

Steps for Shipboard Risk Assessment

09. List items requiring heightened monitoring or the imposition of additional controls in the RA Form. 10. Identify and assign responsibility to personnel who would carry out implementation of control. 11. Review the modified Risk, taking into account the preventive and mitigating actions in place. 12. Confirm that residual Risk is within acceptable levels and record it under the Modified Risk Column in RA Form.

Steps for Shipboard Risk Assessment

13. Assess the Risk based on the situation and not from what you perceive it to be. 14. Future Assessments should consider the control measures that have been put into place now. 15. An electronic copy of the Risk Assessment Form should be securely stored for future use. 16. Once prepared the Risk Assessment to be referred to when the job is next carried out.

Steps for Shipboard Risk Assessment

17. The Risk Assessment should be reviewed and updated with the latest experience when job is done. 18. A Toolbox Meeting to be held where the RA done should be discussed and understood by all. 19. All the usual Safety Precautions to be carried out such as Equipment Lock / Tag Out. 20. All relevant Work Permits to be filled in and duly verified prior to commencement of job.