Analysis of human-related incidents during dynamic positioning operations

Abstract

Dynamic positioning systems ensure additional position accuracy in different operations in the maritime industry, such as shuttling, drilling, diving, pipe laying, and others. Although they are known to be robust systems, they are not exempt from failures leading to incidents, among which we can find human-related incidents. This research analyzes 62 human-related dynamic-positioning incidents and aims to determine which segment in the dynamic positioning system influences these occurrences by applying binary logistic regression modeling techniques in the test sample and validating the results using a control sample. The results indicate that thrusters have the most significant influence on human-related incidents; however, not all DP operations are affected in the same measure. By stratifying the database and considering the different operations in progress, it is noted that human-related incidents while drilling operations are in progress are effectively influenced using a higher percentage of thrusters online.