The new Guidance Notes for Collision Analysis assist owners, operators, and designers of offshore units with identifying potential collision scenarios, assessing the relative risks and conducting numerical analysis, establishing representative collision loads, and measuring the impact of these loads on the structural integrity of offshore units. This latest publication provides in-depth technical guidance for collision mechanics, and class-leading developments in risk assessment methodologies.
A primary goal for the launch of these new Guidance Notes is to provide the direction and criteria to help industry increase the level of protection against collisions at sea. (A collision may occur as a result of a vessel losing its positioning or navigational abilities due to structural, mechanical, or electrical failure, human error, and environmental conditions.) The Guidance Notes cover everything from vessel groundings to collisions with merchant, naval, and support vessels.
“Assessing the impact of potential collisions is critical to the longevity of any offshore unit, not only from a design perspective, but also to help ensure a safe operating environment,” said Phil Rushton, senior engineer for Offshore Structures, and one of the primary authors steering the development of this latest guidance from Lloyd’s Register. “Mitigating collision risks is vital to the protection of our environment, the safety of industry’s people working offshore and the longevity of offshore energy infrastructure."
Lloyd’s Register’s suite of guidance notes support the Rules for Offshore Units, issued in July 2014. The Rules set the requirements for the classification elements of Lloyd’s Register’s services, and are supported by a library of unit or subject-specific guidance notes, which either expand upon the Rules with suggested methodologies or give information on related non-classification services.