ABSTRACT
Offshore installations are high hazard environments where emergency situations can have devastating effects as seen in the Piper Alpha disaster in 1988, which resulted in 167 deaths. In charge of and responsible for handling any incident encountered is the offshore installation manager (OIM). The outcome of an emergency is consequently dependent on the OIM’s judgement and decision making. This research sets out to describe the decision making process of experienced OIMs and to link the decisions to a cognitive framework. Fourteen OIMs and five deputy OIMs from two operating companies participated in this study. Each OIM was presented with three paper-based emergency scenarios and asked to identify the first three critical decisions and related situational cues, objectives, expectations, and courses of action. Results indicate that experienced OIMs have emergency response schemata they can utilise to assess the situation and make decisions based on recognition and rules.
