Accident Reports

By Geraldine Koon. Legal Advisor, ITC

Managers are often required to produce a report post-incident, whether for Flag State, Owners or in accordance with the Vessel’s SMS, for example. While it is helpful to have a report outlining the facts of the incident, what went wrong, and what could be improved, managers must take care when drafting a review of this kind that any  findings are not used against them or their principal. The ISM code promotes a no blame culture. However, when something goes wrong, it can be the very opposite.

Any post incident reporting may lead to a dispute and costly litigation. Parties involved will inevitably ask for any reports into the incident and scrutinise them for anything that can be used to assign blame and liability. Continue reading “State the facts in post incident reporting”

By Geoff Waddington, HonFIIMS and IIMS Immediate Past President, Mike Schwarz, IIMS Chief Executive Officer with contributions from Craig Norton, President, InspectX

IIMS and its Professional Assessment Committee remain concerned at the quality of reports that it sees, both in general terms, but in particular when assessing a candidate’s suitability for an upgrade.

The emergence of new surveyors into the industry, coupled with their desire (along with more experienced practitioners) to utilise the latest report writing software is creating a concerning trend. In writing this article we want to remind surveyors no matter what method they use to prepare their surveys of the importance of accuracy and giving sufficient meaningful and detailed, factual information to the client. That is and always will be the role of a marine surveyor. To further illustrate this point, the authors have used some verbatim comments taken from legal teams who have been asked to comment and give opinions on surveyors’ report in courts and for insurance companies when assessing claims and considering potential litigation. For obvious reasons, the sources of these comments are not revealed. Continue reading “The opportunities and threats presented by report writing software”