News Hound

There is an important free resource available to the whole of the shipping industry that makes a major contribution to safety and that surveyors can help to improve. This is the Mariners Alerting and Reporting Scheme (MARS) operated by The Nautical Institute. MARS is a free resource and The Nautical Institute hopes that surveyors will help to make its existence known to the maritime world. The Nautical Institute wants as many mariners and, indeed, as many in shipping as possible, to benefit from lessoned learned from accidents and near misses. Surveyors can spread the word to let mariners and companies know the resource is there.

The background to MARS is known to all; across the major transportation modes and in many other fields, human error looms as the leading cause of both accidents and incidents. In recent years, the definition of human error has been expanded to include concepts such as unsafe supervision and organisational influences (e.g. resource management and operational processes). In the maritime industry approximately 90 percent of accidents can be traced to human error despite the promotion of regulations, training and quality management systems.

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Article by Adam Brancher

IIMS invited Adam Brancher, Manager Standards Domestic Vessel Division AMSA and IIMS Vice President, to give an overview and update on the changing face of maritime safety in Australia.

It’s been just over a year since the Australian Maritime Safety Authority (AMSA), became the national regulator for domestic commercial vessels (DCV) in Australia following major legislative changes. A domestic commercial vessel in Australia is, in simple terms, a vessel used in connection with commercial, governmental or research activity, although there are exclusions.

Previously the states and territories had regulated under their own legislation, which resulted in there being difficulty in some cases when a seafarer or vessel moved between locations, and had to reapply for qualifications or for vessel survey requirements. The move to a single regulator was designed to allow the free movement of people, vessels and to for nationally agreed standards to be used consistently around the country, and when fully realised should have significant safety and economic benefits.

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