Analysis of interdependencies within the fire fighting function on an offshore platform

Abstract: Recent accidents such as the Macondo blowout actualize the issue of offshore safety. Accidents do occur in spite of actions taken to prevent them from happening. The energy-barrier philosophy is the governing principle within the Norwegian offshore industry. The paradox with that philosophy is that the construction of additional barriers may increase complexity within the system. Risk may be seen as an emerging property of complex systems, yet little attention is paid to complex interactions in barrier systems. The Petroleum Safety Authority Norway (PSA) has therefore raised the matter of dependencies within barrier systems during 2013 to increase awareness of their implications. The governing energy-barrier philosophy relies on linear reasoning and does therefore not provide tools for the interpretation of complex and non-linear interactions. Hence the purpose of this thesis is to apply a different method to interpret interdependencies in a barrier system on an offshore platform and then evaluate the application of that method. The purpose is also to see if the PSA prioritizes an essential issue.