A PROPOSAL TO APPLY RELIABILITY-CENTRED MAINTENANCE TECHNIQUES TO COMMERCIAL SHIPPING

Recent events have focused the attention of the public on safety at sea, and there has been some criticism of ship design detail, the use of poor quality materials, poor build quality and inadequate inspections of British bulk carriers in particular. This paper explains how the commercial aircraft industry has progressively improved its structural designs and improved the reliability of its equipment through the use of techniques such as Reliability Centred Maintenance (RCM). The particular benefits of RCM are that it produces a preventive maintenance plant optimised against failure risk to reduce inplanned failures, improves the availability of equipment and reduces costs by better targeted inspection. The use of a fully justified and auditable preventive maintenance plan permits easier safety certification and improves decision making through better identification of risks. RCM is now commonly used in other industries and is being introduced into warship practice in the UK. A recent pilot study, which used RCM structures methods for determining a hull inspection plan for a Type 22 Frigate, illustrated how survey activity could be better focused only on significant areas of structure and how the risks of any reduction in survey activity could be identified. The paper concludes that commercial shipping would benefit from the use of RCM techniques as part of the asset management process.

• Supplemental Notes:
  • Int Marine Engrs, London, UK; ppr read 7 Nov 1995 [13 p, 3 ref, 8 fig]
• Authors:
  • Schulkins, N B
• Publication Date: 1995

Language

• English

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Maintenance; Reliability; Safety
• Subject Areas: Maintenance and Preservation; Marine Transportation; Safety and Human Factors;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 00718440
• Record Type: Publication
• Source Agency: British Maritime Technology
• Files: TRIS
• Created Date: Mar 27 1996 12:00AM