Risk assessments, Key Shipboard Operations and soft barriers in offshore operations

This paper maps and analyzes the procedures established to define key shipboard operations, the procedures for defining and establishing safeguards and to what extent risk assessment can provide input for establishing these safeguards. Applying a qualitative approach, with interviews in eight Norwegian OSV companies, the study concludes that procedures for risk assessments are not applied systematically in order to identify key shipboard operations and establish soft barriers. Instead, companies rely on external requirements and internal experience.