SAFEGUARD
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Seventh Framework Programme description or moto of 7th framework programme |
SAFEGUARD is an ambitious project aiming to collect human performance data in full scale ship trials and use this to provide calibration and validation data for ship based evacuation models and to also propose and investigate additional benchmark scenarios to be used in certification analysis.
Passenger response time data is fundamental to ship based evacuation analysis and is a key parameter specified in the IMO evacuation analysis protocol MSC Circ 1033 and its successor MSC Circ 1238. Recent research work conducted under the European Union Framework 5 project FIRE EXIT (G3RD-CT-2002-00824), demonstrated that the response time data used in MSC Circ 1033 was not rich enough to accurately represent reality and as such did not provide a suitable basis either for the use of evacuation simulation programs or for their validation. The FIRE EXIT sea trials data relating to response times was submitted to IMO and incorporated within the new evacuation analysis protocol MSC Circ 1238 which replaced the earlier MSC Circ 1033. This updated IMO document made clear the fact that many of the assumptions used at present are in urgent need of revision. The data produced by FIRE EXIT, while limited, was of great use in showing the short comings of present data and the way forward. It is the main objective of SAFEGUARD to continue this work and acquire a large corpus of sea based data on passenger response times and assembly times during ship evacuations, of a sufficient size and richness to permit model calibration (in terms of response time distributions) and verification and validation (of assembly process) and serve as the basis for improved evacuation analysis protocols beyond MSC Circ 1238.
The partners for the project are: BMT Group Ltd, FSEG University of Greenwich, Bureau Veritas Group, Principia, Marine Institute, Safety at Sea Ltd, Color Line, Minoan Lines, Royal Caribbean International