The International Institute of Marine Surveying (IIMS) has released details of a poll undertaken in the past week amongst its Australian members, which reveals serious concerns in the industry about the operation of the new national system for commercial vessel safety introduced by the Australian Maritime Safety Authority (AMSA) on 1 July 2018.
The survey of 60 local IIMS members found that over half of respondents believe the new system will result in vessels being less safe to operate; 29% said they will be far less safe. Nearly two-thirds of respondents (64%) said they found it either difficult or very difficult to access information, understand legislative requirements and get decisions from AMSA, while 79% said that AMSA did not listen to surveyors, or takes their views into account when formulating policy and systems. Read the press release in full: IIMS survey on Australian national vessel safety scheme changes
