New project strengthens safety-critical barrier management by bringing operational and process safety information together.
Empirisys has been appointed by INEOS FPS to deliver the first phase of a Barrier Model Project following the successful completion of a pilot last year.
Drawing on its substantial experience of developing barrier model solutions, Empirisys will work closely with INEOS FPS to provide a single consistent overview of barrier health. Combining operational and process safety data will give INEOS FPS team a more integrated understanding of operational risk.
Supporting a more connected view of risk
Effective barrier management plays a vital role in maintaining process safety. However, as operational environments become more complex and increasing volumes of data are generated, the challenge for organisations is to bring all this information together to help understand the overall level of risk.
By combining information that is often spread across multiple systems and presented in different formats, Empirisys’ Barrier Model provides a single, consistent view of barrier health. This helps teams identify potential barrier issues earlier, understand their impact on operational risk and focus on areas where action will make the biggest difference.
Recent industry guidance from OEUK highlights the importance of understanding how multiple barrier weaknesses and operational issues can combine to increase the likelihood of a major incident. The guidance also recognises that digital solutions can help teams to effectively interpret complex operational and safety data supporting more effective risk assessment and decision-making.
Empirisys' Barrier Model for INEOS FPS reflects this evolving industry approach. It will utilise data already available within existing systems, providing a near real-time view of barrier health. This will support informed decision-making and strengthen existing safety management processes.
Helping shape the future of barrier management
The INEOS FPS project builds on Empirisys’ experience developing similar Barrier Model approaches elsewhere in the offshore sector. Empirisys has previously delivered a similar solution for Anasuria Operating Company (AOC). This project saw the implementation of an enhanced hardware barrier model that strengthened AOC’s understanding of the relationship between barrier performance, safety-critical elements and major accident hazard exposure.
This project was shortlisted in the Major Hazard Awareness category at the Energy Safety Awards 2026.
Together, the AOC and INEOS FPS projects demonstrate how the offshore sector is making greater use of operational and process safety data to strengthen risk management. Empirisys works with operators to combine information from existing systems and provide a clearer picture of barrier performance. This helps organisations better understand operational risk and take a more proactive approach to maintaining safe and reliable operations.
Gus Carroll, CEO of Empirisys, said:
"For many organisations, the challenge is no longer simply collecting data. The challenge is interpretating what that information is telling them about risk in a timely manner."
“Working alongside operators, we combine process safety expertise with practical barrier management experience to help turn existing operational information into meaningful engineering insight.”
"Operators want a clearer understanding of how barrier performance, operational activity and risk exposure connect, so they can make better-informed decisions."
"Projects with organisations such as AOC and now INEOS FPS demonstrate how our approach can strengthen risk management in helping them make better use of the data they already have."
Tom Downie, Process Safety & Risk Lead, INEOS FPS, said:
"Safety is always our top priority and better understanding of how safety barriers are performing will enhance our management of operational risk more effectively.”
“This project with Empirisys will enable us to bring together information from across our operations helping our experienced teams gain a clearer picture of barrier performance and thereby supporting more informed decisions.”
