Access and egress to offshore wind installations account for an approximate 12% of all incidents reported in the industry in 2018. As the industry continues to grow, the number of incidents is likely to increase, heightening the demand for safe and efficient transfer methods. The aim of the project was to compare the conventional bump and jump method with the utilisation of active and passive motion compensated gangway systems in terms of accessibility, efficiency and risk to the transferee.

Accessibility is determined by comparing the safe transfer limits of access systems with historical metocean data of offshore wind farms. The efficiency is compared by means of case studies, considering crew transfers to several turbines in a row.
Hazardous events and consequences inherent to the different transfer methods were identified and visualised in BowTie diagrams. This information, together with other studies on transfer risks, formed the input for an Event Tree Analysis. This quantitative risk analysis allowed for calculation and comparison of the individual risk per transfer.

Considering motion compensated gangways are complex systems and vary greatly in design and operation this project presents a basic quantitative model that can be used to test the sensitivity of individual parameters and the effect of any proposed risk reduction measures for the different transfer methods.