It is holiday time in the UK. Sadly mine has been and gone already! Things have got very quiet generally as IIMS members (and head office staff too) have headed away for their annual breaks. This has allowed me to devote a little time to the activities of the Marine Surveying Academy Ltd (MSA), a wholly owned subsidiary of IIMS that we launched earlier this year.
MSA’s reason for being is primarily to provide training courses for IIMS members and commercial marine based educational opportunities for third party organisations.
For some months now, IIMS has been responsible for marking and handling the examinations for The International Registered Marine Insulation Inspectors course (IRMII for short) as well as providing accreditation for those who have passed. The course is aimed at a highly niche market comprising subsea insulation inspectors and is run, organised and promoted by Wood Group Integrity Management. Around 70 people have now passed and been accredited. Although very specialist in nature, this is an interesting subject. My involvement has been minimal thus far. But that has changed recently when I oversaw the development of a simple IRMII web site. Here we are able to showcase the course and its content, but more importantly it is a place where we can provide a dedicated listing for those who have successfully qualified. This group of specialists now have their own home.
Staying with acronyms …. RMCI (Registered Marine Coatings Inspector course) is another exciting bit of specialist business a team of people and marine paint industry stakeholders have been working on for many months. There is clearly a need, primarily in the superyacht industry, (but elsewhere too), for those involved to acquire more knowledge to better equip them in what is a highly technical and specialised environment. Run by and through MSA, this five day course, including an examination, will lead to a formal qualification. Finally we are ready to role the programme out. The pilot course will run from 8 to 12 September 2014 and will be made up of experts from various interested parties. They will assess the course content and provide feedback. The course is then set to run at various locations in the UK, Europe and potentially further afield too in the coming months. Ah well, another website to organise; and clearly there has never been a better time to watch paint dry than now! Sorry for that. But it promises to be an interesting journey ahead.
Mike Schwarz
