Grant: Engage Grants Program

In marine transportation and offshore oil and gas industries, lifeboats serve as the last resort for human lifeline in case of emergency. Emergency situations may arise in varying environmental conditions, such as night operation, harsh environment, fire, and explosion. Proper release of a lifeboat is critical for the safe evacuation of personnel onboard. There were numerous accidents and fatalities occurred in launching the lifeboats. The International Maritime Organization (IMO) has recently revised its regulation to prevent lifeboat accidents caused by improper release. One of the major recommendations in the new regulation is to conduct risk analysis using the FMEA (Failure Mode and Effect Analysis) on all load release hooks. The FMEA is a formalized safety analysis approach with an objective of improving the inherent reliability of the release hooks. The Mad Rock Marine Solutions, Inc. (MRMS) is a leading supplier of lifeboat release hooks in Canada and abroad. In accordance with the recent IMO regulations and for the improvements on its next generation of products (hooks), MRMS is collaborating with the Safety and Risk Engineering group of Memorial University to conduct a detailed risk analysis using the FMEA of MRMS's patented RocLoc series of lifeboat release hooks. The results from the Engage research will serve as an important starting point for a long, sustaining collaboration between the MRMS and Memorial University to improve the hooks' design and safe operation by improving its inherent reliability and operability. The research collaboration would further help MRMS to gain advantage over their global competitors. This research will also be beneficial to the Canadian offshore industries.