scope:

Purpose of FMEAs

Whenever a system failure could result in undesirable consequences such as loss of propulsion, loss of propulsion control, etc., best practices advise carrying out a risk analysis, such as an FMEA, as an integral part of the design and operational development process. This analysis can be a powerful aid in identifying possible failures which could potentially leave a vessel, an offshore installation or its crew in peril.

The ultimate goal of an FMEA from the point of view of Classification is to use it as supporting documentation to demonstrate compliance with the ABS design philosophy and related Classification notation requirements and design intent for the particular system.

There are instances where the goal of the vessel or asset owner is to have a comprehensive and systematic risk-based approach to the design. When such approach is taken, design choices are prioritized based on the assessment of risks, thus the much broader FMEA goal is to identify and reduce a wider range of risks that could arise from failures. The ISQM (Integrated Software Quality Management) for software development is an example of such risk-based design framework.