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:

[embed=videolink]{"video":"http://youtu.be/e4lfqE7bPvM","width":"640","height":"360"}[/embed] 

 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.

Another expiration which is coming up is the first batch of Bridging Program Uninspected Towing Vessel (UTV) examination stickers. Some vessel operators are under the impression that they must renew their examination sticker. This is not the case. UTVs are still uninspected until the Final Rule of Subchapter M goes into effect. The UTV examination program had been around for many years before the Bridging Program, a program which is similar to the commercial fishing vessel voluntary examination program. The Coast Guard decided to use the UTV examination program as part of the Bridging Program to ease the transition to inspected towing vessel status. Once a towing vessel has been examined and has received a sticker, it has fulfilled its obligation under the Bridging Program and there is no further requirement to have the sticker renewed.

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.

Additionally, a client of mine recently returned for the UTV examiner course at the Coast Guard Training Center in Yorktown, VA. The week-long course is mainly for Coast Guard personnel, but a number of seats are dedicated for industry personnel. The course was reportedly, very informative and the binder of training material I reviewed contained a great deal of useful information. My client said one of the most important things that he got out of the course was to witness the Coast Guard's approach compliance which was a real eye opener. If you can get into one of these courses it will definitely be worth the trip. 

 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:

 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.

Some say that regulations are written in blood. To have an effective compliance program, there must be an understanding of the intent of the regulations. Research is often necessary, but some owner/operators don't have the time, manpower, or desire to figure out if a certain regulation applies, or what the intent of the regulation is. As a result, many companies end up "chasing their tails" by relying solely on others' opinions and interpretations.

 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.