The maritime and offshore industries have extensive requirements for safety, maintenance and operational control. Nevertheless, serious incidents and recurring failures continue to occur. The immediate causes may be technical, but the conditions that allow an event to develop are often connected to planning, risk assessment, regulatory compliance and organisational follow-up.
Operational reliability is therefore not solely a technical matter. It also depends on whether an organisation understands its requirements, applies them consistently and verifies that its controls work in practice. Assessments, audits and investigations provide important information, but their value depends on whether findings are followed up and used to improve operations.
An increasing reliability challenge
In its 2025 report, Maritime Safety Trends 2014–2024: Preparing for Future Risks, DNV found that maritime safety incidents increased by 42% between 2018 and 2024, while the global fleet grew by only 10%.
Machinery damage and failure accounted for 60% of casualty incidents in 2024, compared with 38% ten years earlier. DNV also identified a clear relationship between vessel age and operational reliability. Vessels more than 25 years old accounted for 41% of reported incidents.
DNV points to maintenance, equipment upgrades, competence, risk assessment and regulatory compliance as important responses. The findings are presented in DNV’s summary of its maritime safety report.
The technical findings are for technical specialists to assess. From a management and assurance perspective, however, the report raises wider questions. Are relevant requirements being met? Are operational risks reassessed as assets and operating conditions change? Are findings from audits, inspections and incidents considered together? Most importantly, does management receive an accurate picture of where controls may be weakening?
From compliance to operational assurance
Regulatory compliance provides the foundation for reliable operations. Organisations must identify applicable requirements, translate them into working arrangements and verify that these arrangements remain effective.
Compliance should not be understood as a periodic exercise conducted in preparation for an audit or regulatory inspection. Requirements must be reflected in daily planning, responsibilities, competence, contractor follow-up and management decision-making. There may otherwise be a considerable difference between documented compliance and actual operational practice.
Independent assessments and internal audits can help identify this gap. They provide an opportunity to examine whether responsibilities are understood, risk assessments remain relevant, deviations are addressed and previous corrective actions have produced the intended result.
An assessment should therefore do more than identify individual non-conformities. It should help management understand patterns, recurring weaknesses and areas where formal requirements are not producing reliable operational control.
Learning from events
The same principle applies after an incident or serious deviation. Establishing what happened is necessary, but the wider purpose is to understand why existing controls did not prevent the event and whether similar conditions may exist elsewhere.
IOGP describes this broader process as Learning from Events. Its guidance focuses on how organisations can learn from operating experience, reduce risk and prevent recurrence. This is a useful distinction: completing an investigation is not the same as demonstrating that the organisation has learned from it.
Findings should be considered alongside information from audits, inspections, risk assessments and normal operations. Corrective actions must be assigned, followed up and verified. Relevant lessons should then be reflected in procedures, training, contractor requirements and future assessments.
Learning is incomplete if an investigation report is closed but the underlying weakness remains elsewhere in the organisation.
Connecting projects and operations
Operational reliability also depends on the quality of the transition from project development to operations. Decisions made during planning, design and construction influence future operating conditions, responsibilities and risks.
This connection was emphasised by Giovanni Cristofoli of bp Solutions and IOGP in the 2025 article Building Safety In: How Early Operations Integration in Projects Prevents Future Risks. The article highlights the importance of operational involvement and attention to operability, maintainability, reliability and risk management throughout project development.
The wider lesson is that regulatory compliance, operational assessments and learning from events should form part of one continuous assurance process. Together, they help management understand whether requirements are being met and whether operations remain under effective control.
Bruncell Larsen Strategic Advisory supports organisations with independent assessments, regulatory compliance reviews, audits and follow-up of findings and lessons from events. If you would like assistance in evaluating whether your management arrangements support safe and reliable operations, please contact me.
