Ship Collision Risk - An identification and evaluation of important factors in collisions with offshore installations

The risk for a ship collision is usually predicted to be one of the dominating risks for an offshore installation. The subject of this thesis originated in a need for continuous update and review of the models for assessing the collision risk, so that the technical development and management changes of today are reflected. The risk for collision is governed by the actions of the ship, which depends on several human and organisational factors that may be complicated to measure. The focus of this thesis therefore lies within the organisation of the ship, with the aim to identify and assess causes and underlying factors that contribute to a collision. This is undertaken by using a hierarchical model where the included components are assessed through expert judgement via interviews. The results from the interviews are combined with results from a literature review and the most contributing factors in a ship collision with an offshore installation are outlined. The results show that the three most contributing causes to the collision risk are if the officer on watch is absent, distracted or asleep.