FSA Training Course Held in London

International Association of Classification Societies (IACS) held a one-day Formal Safety Assessment  (FSA) training course for delegates attending the first meeting of the IMO Sub-Committee on Implementation of IMO Instruments (III 1), in order to facilitate a wider understanding of the (FSA) process.

Over eighty delegates attended this event.

The course commenced with an overview and purpose of a FSA and an explanation of how FSA relates to regulatory impact assessments and the Goal-Based Standards Safety Level Approach (GBS/SLA).

FSA is a structured and systematic methodology, aimed at enhancing maritime safety, including protection of life, health, the marine environment and property, by using risk analysis and cost benefit assessment.

FSA can be used as a tool to help in the evaluation of new regulations for maritime safety and protection of the marine environment or in making a comparison between existing and possibly improved regulations, with a view to achieving a balance between the various technical and operational issues, including the human element, and between maritime safety or protection of the marine environment and costs.

Information on the five steps of the FSA process:

• Hazard Identification
• Risk Analysis and Examples
• Identification of Risk Control Options (RCOs)
• Cost Control Assessment (CCA); and
• Reporting and recommendations for decision making;

 presented during the course, can be found on the IACS website.

FSA has been described as “a rational and systematic process for assessing the risks associated with shipping activity and for evaluating the costs and benefits of IMO’s options for reducing these risks.”

It can be used as a tool to help evaluate new regulations or to compare proposed changes with existing standards. It enables a balance to be drawn between the various technical and operational issues, including the human element and between safety and costs.

FSA – which was originally developed partly at least as a response the Piper Alpha disaster of 1988, when an offshore platform exploded in the North Sea and 167 people lost their lives – is now being applied to the IMO rule making process.

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Press Release; July 21, 2014