Quantitative risk analysis for operational transfer processes of maritime pilots

Maritime pilots assist in manoeuvring ships arriving at or departing from a port. The most perilous part of their work is embarking and disembarking the vessel. The operational process of transferring maritime pilots is dangerous because the nature of the work involves risks such as falling from the pilot ladder into the water. Therefore, detailed risk analyses that consider potential operational failures are essential to improve pilot transfer safety. This paper presents a comprehensive risk analysis for the operational transfer processes of maritime pilots utilizing fuzzy extended fault tree analysis (FFTA). FFTA is a robust risk analysis method commonly used in the maritime industry. It is capable of predicting risk quantitatively by addressing the potential basic events of a system. In this study, the risk of encountering an accident during the transfer processes of maritime pilots is found to be 3.95E-03. The outcomes of this paper will provide valuable contributions to the safety of maritime pilots, who have suffered from substandard transfer process. The paper also highlights the failures and deficiencies with respect to operational processes in embarking/disembarking with the aim of minimizing the associated risks.