Review of fuzzy set theory applications in safety assessment for marine and offshore industries

Various safety analysis techniques have been generated in dealing with uncertain information over the past three decades. The safety assessment based on conventional risk methods may not be well suited with most problems possessing high level of contingencies in marine and offshore systems. In other words, the effect of less confidence, unreliable, missing or incomplete data in safety assessment is arduous to apply common safety and risk assessment techniques for maritime industry. Therefore, fuzzy logic based approaches are probably more appropriate to apply in carrying out safety assessment for maritime systems. This paper presents a survey of applications in fuzzy set theory for safety analysis to marine and offshore industries' problems. The safety assessment methods are presented in detail by demonstrating their robust and weak points. Subsequently, the main results on the application of fuzzy set theory for safety assessment will be further explained. Finally, recommendations in undertaking developments into the field of maritime safety assessment will be given.