Formal Safety Assessment

Formal Safety Assessment (FSA) is the IMO’s structured, risk-based methodology for evaluating shipping hazards and the cost-effectiveness of measures to address them, used to inform rulemaking. It runs five steps: (1) hazard identification; (2) risk analysis; (3) risk control options; (4) cost-benefit assessment; and (5) recommendations for decision-making. The current guidelines are MSC-MEPC.2/Circ.12/Rev.2 (2018). FSA was developed after the Piper Alpha disaster to move the IMO from reactive, casualty-driven regulation toward proactive, transparent analysis, and it underpins major instruments such as the goal-based ship construction standards.