Human and Organization Factors (HOF) in Design, Construction, and Operation of Offshore Platforms
Authors: Bea R.G. , Roberts K.H. 
Published: October 2008

Experience has amply demonstrated that Human and Organization Factors (HOF) play important roles in determining the quality and reliability of marine structures such as ships, pipelines, and offshore platforms. This paper addresses HOF in tile contexts of approaches, assessments, and general guides that are intended to help improve the quality, safety, and reliabilityy of offshore platforms. These elements areintended to primarily address potentially critical situations involving HOF that can lead to major degradations in the quality of offshore platforms..

INTRODUCTION

Experience with offshore platforms has amply demonstrated that the primary hazards to the quality, safety, and reliability of these systems are associated with the actions and inactions of the people that are involved with the design, construction, and operations of these systems. Our research on marine systems clearly shows that roughly 80 % of the manor compromises in quality can be attributed to HOF.1,2,3, About 80 % of these ompromises occur during operations. However, many of these operational compromises have antecedents embedded in design and construction.4 These tindings are similar to those found in a wide variety of nonmarine systems and communities.4.

Experience also has amply demonstrated that traditional methods and approaches to help assure that desirable quality, safety, and reliability are developed work in the vast majority of cases. It is the rare, low probability, high consequence situations involving HOF that areslipping through the Quality Assurance and Quality Control (QA / QC) processes and associated management strategies (e.g. Total Quality Management). In themain, the contents of this paper are intended to address what is not addressed by traditional quality management activities and strategies to help assure desirable and acceptable quality in offshore platforms.

The contents of this paper represent a summary of some of the key results from six years of research that have addressed the life-cycle quality, safety, and reliability aspects of a wide variety of both marine and non-marine systems. 3,4.6-9 is work has involved field studies inwhich attempts have been made to apply, verify, and test the results of the research.4,10 The work includes in depth studies of information contained in major marine systems accident data bases.3,11 It continues to focus on HOF in design, construction, and operation of marine systems including platforms, pipelines, and commercial tankers.

This paper does not chronicle a mature technology. There is a long way to go before this technology can be called mature. Thanks to the progress made by non marine communities such as the commercial air transportation and nuclear power plant industries, acoherent and meaningful start on the unique challenges associated with HOF in the marine community has been made. The approaches and assessment strategies outlinwl here can help those with front-line responsibilities for offshore platforms and their operations to better chieve desirable quality, safety, and reliability..

In the remainder of this paper, fiit we define quality, safety, and reliability to show how they are inter-related. This is done so that the objectives of work to improve HOF will be clear and balanced.