Model based Development of Health, Safety, and Environment Plans and Risk Assessment for Offshore Operations

The commercial installation of offshore wind farms is still far from established standards or procedures and sets high demands on employees dealing with uncertainty and risks for personnel and material. In this paper, a process-oriented model approach is presented to support operation planning and risk reduction, e.g. for the offshore wind industry. Maritime operations are characterized as dynamic and complex in terms of involving many different actors and resources in cooperative processes under harsh environmental conditions that we aim to integrate into one model. A conceptual model is the base to describe operations and for further analysis of operational risks. This paper introduces an exemplary offshore scenario, a jack-up vessel performing a crane operation. After transforming the model for execution into a multi-agent system, combined with a physics engine, our approach allows an automated simulation of critical offshore processes. Thus, it can be used to identify hazards, quantify risks and gain the necessary technical expertise. This approach can be applied in order to meet the requirements of health, safety, and environmental aspects for the operation of offshore wind farms. Furthermore, the potential of an assistance system using our gained process knowledge to support operational safety during offshore operations is considered.