Multi-Criteria Indicators for the Inherent Safety Profile of Off-Shore Oil & Gas Facilities

The operation of off-shore oil&gas installations received considerable attention by the general public in the perspective of perceived risks for the population and the environment. A clear and communicable representation of the safety profile of off-shore oil&gas facilities requires to account several aspects that complement the evaluations of the more traditional risk assessment approach. Key performance indicators (KPIs) are a promising route to capture the multi-faceted issues related to off-shore operations. The use of KPIs has been established in many applications and industrial sectors, but a consolidated practice in off-shore oil&gas installations aimed at performance assessment with respect to safety and environmental issues is still missing.The present study focuses on the development of a system of multi-criteria KPIs for safety fingerprinting of off-shore oil&gas facilities. The system is based on the concept of inherent safety, which is an approach to safety that focuses on the assessment of the potential hazards underlying an activity. The proposed KPIs evaluate the expected accident consequences and the reliability performance of the equipment items. The complexity of the threats of concern asks for the development of an array of KPIs to completely address the different targets of the potential hazards (people, environment, assets, etc.). A case study is presented in order to demonstrate the developed KPIs approach. The results of the case study show the importance of the assessment of the different contributors to the safety profile and how the proposed method is able to guarantee a sound and auditable assessment of the inherent safety of the off-shore system.