Maritime Compliance Report

As I read the indictment of two BP officials, Robert Kaluza and Donald Vidrine, on 11 counts of seaman’s manslaughter and involuntary manslaughter, I couldn't help but think about Subchapter M and the future of the towing vessel industry. Mr. Vidrine and Kaluza were Well Sight Leaders on the Deepwater Horizon rig the day of the explosion which resulted in the deaths of 11 people. According to the indictment, these Well Sight Leaders were responsible for, among other things, “supervising the implementation of BP’s drilling plan.” To draw an analogy, under Subchapter M, should a company operate under a Towing Safety Management System (TSMS), the captain will be responsible for “supervising the implementation of the company TSMS.”

The International WorkBoat Show in New Orleans is fast approaching. It is being held in the New Orleans Convention Center from December 5-7. If you are interested in learning the latest about regulations and compliance and you are planning on investing in the conference sessions, I’d like to bring two sessions to your attention:

Wednesday December 5, 2012 from 4:00 – 5:30pm I will be participating in a conference session moderated by retired RADM Whitehead on: “Choosing a Compliance Option for Towing Vessel Regulations: What You Need to Know.”

Friday December 7, 2012 from 1:00 – 2:00pm I will be conducting an hour-long session: “Culture of Compliance” where I will go in depth on my comprehensive model for maritime compliance management. 

If you have specific questions, please come by our booth: 2757 and visit with us. We look forward to seeing you all there!

On a recent visit to Greece I was invited to speak at the Safety4Sea conference in Athens to an audience of almost 400 attendees. I took the opportunity to introduce my Maritime Compliance Management Model. Click on the picture to watch the short video:

If a company hired a new captain for a new vessel, and shortly thereafter that captain was asked what challenges he faces on his new vessel, what do you think he might say? I can’t imagine him saying that the biggest hurdle he faced was that there was not enough established doctrine or written procedures for him to follow! Perhaps if International Safety Management (ISM) systems had been implemented as intended, to minimize human error by following written procedures that represent best practices, he might have said such a thing. But that culture, to my knowledge, has not been established on the civilian side of seafaring. While working with companies to implement ISM and other safety management programs, I often use the example of serving on a number of Coast Guard cutters, where there was a right way to do everything, and it was written down in manuals. There were almost no checklists used either, because everything had to be learned, practiced, memorized and drilled. From this perspective, I believe a real safety culture is one where the word “safety” is never mentioned. I can’t remember ever hearing it on any Coast Guard cutter: there was only the right way to do things. In watching Dale DuPont’s interview with LCDR Craig Allen, Commanding Officer of the USCGC William Flores, on Workboat.com recently, I was pleased to see that some things never change. Listen to what the Captain says when asked what challenges he faces on his new vessel… (Video interview) That’s right; he says that their biggest hurdle is that there is not enough established doctrine or procedures to follow. He explains they will have to make them from scratch based upon lessons learned and best practices. This is an example of what the Coast Guard’s “safety culture” looks like. The operational Coast Guard is not an excellent organization by accident. How excellent is your operation?

Time flies. It’s hard to believe that many TWICs are reaching their expiration date. Thankfully, there is an alternative process to renew a TWIC for those whose cards are now expiring. As long as you are a U.S. citizen or U.S. national and your TWIC is expiring before December 31, 2014, all you have to do is call 1-866-347-8942 and pay $60, to order a new TWIC which will be good for another three years.  A client recently did this over the phone with all their employees and found it to be a very simple process. Of course, once the TWIC is ready, it will require a trip to a TWIC center to pick it up and activate it.

For those of you in New Orleans, I want to let you know that our Safety Management Workbooks are now available at Baker Lyman in addition to our website.  It is a great resource to get crews to learn what is in, as well as how to use, your own safety management system. The next time you are in Baker Lyman, please look for it. 

There are still a significant number of towing vessel that have not been examined under the Coast Guard’s Bridging Program. As the Coast Guard trains more examiners and becomes more proficient in conducting uninspected towing vessel (UTV) exams, the bar for operators is steadily rising. In their continuing effort to help the industry demonstrate full compliance the Coast Guard has published a new edition of “United States Coast Guard Requirements for Uninspected Towing Vessels.” This is the best comprehensive reference for a particular class of vessel that has ever been published by the Coast Guard. In addition to the excellent explanation of the regulations, there are useful appendixes which include frequently asked questions, and a collection of those ever-elusive Policy Letters which contain a wealth of information. Whether your company is still struggling to get their vessels examined, or you consider yourself an expert on the topic, this publication deserves a serious look. There is something for even the most experienced among us to learn.

After many years of being involved with compliance issues for the maritime industry, I have developed a comprehensive model on how to manage compliance. If you would like to learn about this methodology which will help you develop confidence and peace of mind regarding compliance, you should make it a point to try to attend one of these conference sessions where I will be presenting the model:

Wednesday October 3, 2012 – Athens, Greece; Safety4Sea Forum; 2:00pm – 3:30pm “Culture of Compliance”

Friday December 7, 2012 – New Orleans, LA; International Workboat Show; 1:00pm – 2:00pm; “Culture of Compliance”

Additionally, if you are in the towboat business, there will be an important panel discussion at the Workboat Show, on whether to choose the Coast Guard option or third party TSMS option for inspection compliance under Subchapter M:

Wednesday December, 5, 2012 – International Workboat Show; New Orleans, LA; 4:00pm -5:30pm; “Choosing a Compliance Option for Towing Vessel Regulations: What You Need to Know”

I will be on this panel which will be moderated by retired RADM Joel Whitehead.

Also, when at the Workboat Show, please stop by our booth 2757 and say hello.

I look forward to seeing you.

When I was training to become a Coast Guard marine inspector years ago, I noticed the doorway on a crewboat was 28 inches wide. When I looked up the regulation, I found that the door for a passenger compartment is required to be 32 inches wide. The other inspector breaking me in was reluctant to make the owner enlarge the doorway.  All I could imagine was some very large passengers getting stuck in the capsized boat that we had certified.

Did you know that vessel owners are required to manage rain run-off? That crewmembers are required to screen their shore-side bosses if they come aboard a vessel? That push-boats are required to have a bell of a certain size in case they anchor or run aground in the fog? This is only the tip of the regulatory iceberg. Some regulations seem so ridiculous that vessel owners have a hard time believing that they could be true, or that they will ever be enforced, or that someone won’t come to their senses and make them go away. A common strategy used once a vessel owner becomes aware of a regulation is to call around to some friendly competitors to see what they are doing. They may end up convincing each other to adopt a “wait and see” approach. After all, the Coast Guard always gives 30 days to correct a deficiency, right? Some companies call the Coast Guard to ask about a particular issue, and because the Coast Guard person who answers the phone isn’t familiar with the particular requirement, the company may say, “The Coast Guard doesn’t even know about this,” and use that as an excuse to do little or nothing to comply. This is not good.