This paper was first presented at the NAV99/ILA28 Conference on ‘Loran-C, Satellite and
Integrated Systems for the 21st Century’ held at Church House, Westminster, London from
1–3 November 1999.
The introduction of modern navigation systems highlights the need for efficient tools to
assess the possible impact of these systems on the safety levels currently associated with the
operation of a ship. In recent years this has led to investigation of the advanced safety/risk
assessment techniques already applied in other industrial sectors, with encouraging results.
The scope of this paper is to show a quantified safety assessment methodology that can be
applied while designing or retrofitting navigation systems. The methodology adopted is the
result of the review of the IMO Formal Safety Assessment (FSA) technique and comprises
the development of a functional analysis, a hazard identification analysis and a risk
assessment. The paper provides details on a specific application of this model to an
integrated navigation system. This application is included in the work performed under the
ATOMOS II research project, partly funded by the DGVII Directorate of the European
Commission within the 4th Framework Programme in the field of Maritime Transport.