View the news bulletin in full to continue reading: News Bulletin August 2021 (pdf format) or click to read it in eReader format.
Covid-19 regulations in the UK have changed recently as the government seeks to unlock further. Will it make a big difference for marine surveyors in the UK? Possibly. And just when we thought we were heading into calmer pandemic waters, two of my colleagues came into contact with people who have tested positive and had to self-isolate. I labour the point about Covid only to highlight that it remains a hazard to us all, not just in the UK.
The IIMS team is now back working full time from Murrills House. Fortunately, before my colleagues had to self-isolate, we managed a highly successful overnight team building event, which brought us altogether face-to-face as a group for the first time in over 18 months. I have included a few photos in this news bulletin to give you a flavour of what the team got up to.
Another story that broke in the last month that caught my attention was indirectly related to the pandemic. The US Coast Guard has published its 2020 Boating Safety Statistics Report and the findings show a rather depressing surge in fatalities during the pandemic. Click to read the full story and the report. In 2020, the report reveals there were 767 boating fatalities nationwide, an increase of 25%. These are troubling statistics and can only be explained by the fact that so many more people have taken to the water in the last 18 months – many of them, I suspect, first-time boaters.