Accident analysis of on-deck operations in offshore environments

The report focuses on analysing on-deck accidents in offshore environments using data from the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) which covers the period 1980-2005. It applies the Accident Anatomy (AA) method, which maps accident causes and consequences using fault trees and cause-consequence diagrams (CCDs). Unlike previous analyses, this report aims to extract deeper insights into accident patterns beyond general statistics.

For this report, on-deck operations involve material handling, tool use, and equipment operation in offshore environments.

The study analysed 10,846 records that cover accident events on both fixed and floating offshore units. The report focuses on cases where injuries or fatalities occurred. The analysis described in the report mapped 77 accident-prone operations and provides a detailed causal understanding of offshore accidents.

Despite the exhaustiveness of the analysis, there are limitations related to the used data. The HSE records primarily document physical and operational aspects of the accidents, leaving out design-related or organisational factors. Next, probabilities for the accident events considered in the analysis are not provided. This is due to the incomplete nature of the sources and the lack of information on the number of opportunities for accidents. The computation of probabilities will be feasible if data on the frequency of use of relevant components, machines, personnel, and workplaces has been also collected.