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Published: 1997

Total Pages: 20

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During the last three years, the Marine Board of the National Research Council (NRC) has published four study reports that focused on enhancing safety in offshore oil and gas activities and in the marine and maritime fields. The objective of these studies was to provide recommendations for actions that will reduce or eliminate deaths and injuries, reduce pollution from accidents and operations, and protect resources and structures from loss. Several recurring themes are woven through many of these reports. The themes deal with using technology already available and demonstrated, using risk analyses to establish priorities for use of resources (such as inspection facilities and personnel) despite the lack of data for decision making, using advanced tools for inspection and monitoring, and using long-term monitoring to gauge performance. One report about improving marine pipeline safety describes the safety challenges associated with designing, regulating, and monitoring over 20,000 miles of underwater pipelines in federal and state waters. The report on the restoration and protection of marine habitats comments on the institutional, regulatory, and managerial impediments to the wider application of the best engineering technologies and practices and the ways to deal with these impediments. The report on assessment techniques for removing offshore structures provides guidance on the use of technologies and their associated hazards and the development of strategies to mitigate environmental damage when offshore structures must be removed. One of the most recent reports describes a concept for using present undersea vehicles technology and systems to perform tasks that respond to the need to monitor the condition of offshore pipelines and seabed facilities. Two studies now underway continue several of the themes noted in aforementioned reports: one theme being a review of the uses of risk assessment opportunities in an effort to find useful experience from other industries. Another current study targets the introduction of human performance and organizational system theory and practice from other industries into the maritime and offshore industries.