Novel risk assessment techniques for maritime safety management system

Following a brief review of the current status of offshore safety regulations in the UK, several issues pertaining to the problems encountered in applying the existing reliability and safety analysis methods in quantitative safety appraisal studies, especially in the early concept design stage of maritime engineering products, are discussed. Presents three novel risk assessment and decision support frameworks. These include a design trade‐off approach using Taguchi method, a safety based decision support system based on artificial neural network techniques, and a fuzzy‐logic‐based synthesis incorporating the Dempster‐Shafer approach for making multiple attribute decision. Three illustrative examples are used to demonstrate the novel tools, together with the discussion on the conditions under which each approach may be applied effectively. Finally, recommendations on further development in safety modelling, decision‐making techniques and their integration into safety management systems, are suggested.