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Press Release

IMCA PUBLISHES GUIDANCE ON FMEAs

'FMEA' is one of the most recent acronyms to hit the offshore industry, and trade association IMCA - The International Marine Contractors Association - has published guidance on the technique to help take away some of the mystique.

An FMEA - failure modes and effects analysis - is a systematic analysis of the systems to whatever level of detail is required to demonstrate that no single failure will cause an undesired event. An FMEA can be applied to any item, system or process that could fail.

The new 64-page publication - costing £30 for IMCA members and £100 for non-members - provides in the Executive Summary a simple what, why, when, how format to give the reader a relatively quick overview of the main issues surrounding an FMEA, more detailed information is provided in the main part of the Guidance Document. Frequently asked questions (FAQs) are a feature of the publication; so too is an FMEA process flow sheet, which provides an overview of the processes involved in carrying out an FMEA.

In an eminently readable guidance note, readers are reminded of Murphy's Law "Everything that can fail, shall fail" - one of the main reasons behind the FMEA technique. "Experience shows that we can add to Murphy's Law '... and it will usually fail at the worst possible moment!'," explains IMCA's Chief Executive Hugh Williams. "Consequently, during the design of a system or product the designer must always think in terms of what could go wrong with the system or process; how badly might it go wrong; and what needs to be done to prevent failures.

"Our new publication guides readers through sixteen FAQs ranging from 'What is an FMEA' to 'What does a formal FMEA cost'; Murphy's Law and FMEAs, FMEA standards and the classification societies; DP FMEA - how far do we go; the FMEA process; vessel audits and practical FMEA testing; operations and maintenance; additions to the FMEA process; definitions of terms used in the FMEA process; examples of an FMEA worksheet; background and explanations of DP class 2 and Class 3; and seven pages devoted to types of DP failure mode uncovered by FMEAs. We believe FMEAs are so important that at our 11th Marine/Diving Seminar this autumn there will be a presentation on ‘FMEAs for Dive Systems' and a workshop on ‘FMEAs - what should they cover?'."

In existence for over 50 years

The FMEA discipline was developed in the United States military. Military Procedure MIL-P-1629, titled ‘Procedures for Performing a Failure Modes, Effects and Criticality Analysis' is dated November 9, 1949. The technique, in use in military circles, particularly the aerospace field, for over half a century has evolved over the years; and more and more industries - notably the automotive industry - have seen the benefits to be gained by using FMEAs to compliment their design processes.

Notes to Editors (common)

• IMCA is an international association with over 450 members in more than 50 countries, representing offshore, marine and underwater engineering companies. IMCA has four technical divisions, covering marine/specialist vessel operations, offshore diving, hydrographic survey and remote systems and ROVs, plus geographic sections for the Americas Deepwater, Asia-Pacific, Europe & Africa and Middle East & India regions, as well as a core focus on safety, the environment, competence and training. IMCA seeks to promote its members' common interests, to resolve industry-wide issues and to provide an authoritative voice for its members.
• IMCA publishes some 200 guidance notes and technical reports. These have been developed over the years and are widely distributed. They are a definition of what IMCA stands for, including widely recognised diving and ROV codes of practice, DP documentation, marine good practice guidance, the Common Marine Inspection Document, safety recommendation, outline training syllabi and the IMCA competence scheme guidance. In addition to the range of printed guidance documents, IMCA also produces safety promotional materials, circulates information notes and safety flashes.
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