Concurrent Treatment of Safety Aspects in Ship Design and Construction Process

This paper presents a fascinating overview of many concurrent topics having Ship Safety as common denominator. It is a voyage in the recently explored waters of innovation - promoting dissemination of R&D findings, best practices and application techniques successfully implemented by the European Shipbuilding industry - as well as a continuation of the adventure towards uncharted waters of future challenges. From the perspective of the European Shipyards, insight is given into the work in progress on direct assessment of safety and the possible implications on the future regulatory framework.Every year, safety regulations are modified and updated to keep the pace with new technologies and developments in the maritime industry. There is an impressive range of topics marking the evolution of safety aspects in ship design, including, but not limited to: Safe Return to Port, Formal Safety Assessment, Goal-based/Performance-based design, new generation Intact Stability Criteria, Probabilistic Damage Stability implementation, Water on Deck, Collision and Grounding, Time to Flood/Sink/Capsize, Evacuation Analysis, Alternative Design, Innovative Life-Saving Equipment, Navigation and Bridge Equipment, Fire prevention, Accident prevention.Such design and operation developments have been promoted and implemented with the valuable support and contribution of a number of EC-funded projects. Each of these projects somehow paved the way to specific innovation, or offered answers to the primary challenges of the European maritime industry.