Welcome to 2023. I wish you all the best for a fulfilling and successful year ahead despite the global challenges that surround us.
The January news bulletin is a bumper start to the year. I have decided to introduce a new feature that will appear in this and subsequent monthly news bulletins. Compiling the IIMS 2022 Safety & Loss Prevention Briefings Compendium late last year made me aware of just how many marine incidents and accidents are reported each month, many of which go unnoticed. I decided rather than saving them all up to publish at the end of this year, I’d share them with you on a month-by-month basis. I believe it is important to give surveyors (and the Continue reading “Here’s hoping for a calmer year ahead”
Have you ever wondered why incidents and accidents seem to come in clusters and often by type? I have. It is a strange phenomenon and one that I have no idea how to explain. Recently there were several enclosed space accidents hitting the news in quick succession and, sadly, with deaths to report. Then there was a spate of incidents within days of each other involving containers flying from ships into the seas. In some cases, it was just a handful, but in others, much larger numbers reported. And now, it seems, there has been a cluster of devastating fires, both at sea and on shore that have hit the headlines in recent weeks resulting in multiple 
The IIMS is hosting a face-to-face certifying authority training day on 19 May 2022 at the RNLI’s headquarters in Poole for its own (and other CA) coding examiners with an opportunity to join the afternoon session on life-saving equipment in an online capacity for those delegates who are further afield. Members and non-members are welcome to attend. The event is also likely to appeal to other surveyors who are not involved in MCA coding.
Strange and positive things can and do happen at times of great adversity it seems. And let’s face it, the world is facing adversity like no other most of us will have seen. I repeatedly hear from small craft surveyors around the world that they have had their busiest ever year. Yes, the rules of survey have changed, but many people in the world have decided this is the perfect time to purchase a boat remarkably. Equally cargo and commercial ship surveyors are reporting that they too are busy. But again, the rules of engagement and survey are different now.
My blog is long overdue for an update and what better time to scribble down a few words than at the start of UK Maritime Safety Week which runs from 6 to 10 July 2020. It seems appropriate to put the IIMS weight behind an awareness campaign of this kind, not least as one of the major roles of any marine surveyor, not just in the UK, is to help to keep lives safe at sea and to help protect vessels, cargoes and maritime assets.
IIMS UAE Branch is broadcastng an interactive webinar live on 16 April at 10.45 (UAE local time).
Since I recently published my most recent Coronavirus advice to marine surveyors who travel internationally for work, the situation surrounding the pandemic has worsened dramatically in just a few days. The world we knew has ended abruptly. Put simply, marine surveyors are certain not to be travelling cross-border for work given the alacrity with which most countries are racing to close their borders.