Abstract
An approach for Decision Support for Dynamic Barrier Management has been developed that combines safety barrier concepts from the offshore industry with success path concepts from the nuclear power industry. This approach has been used to develop decision support concepts for real-time monitoring of barrier health and guidance for actions to be taken when barriers are degraded or fail. The approach is based on the systematic identification of the information required to assess barrier health, instrumentation that can be used to provide this information, and clear decision criteria that prescribe when actions must be taken to restore degraded barriers or implement alternate success paths. The approach can also be used for continuous assessment of regulatory compliance during operations and communication with regulatory authorities regarding decisions for continued operation or shutdown following equipment failures. This paper summarizes lessons learned from major accidents in other industries including nuclear power and aerospace, and the experience gained from two multi-year projects involving offshore operators, a drilling contractor, and regulatory authorities for development of decision support systems for offshore production and drilling installations.
