News Bulletins

The past month has been an eventful one, to say the least. When is that ever not the case? There have been a number of key deadlines, preparation for the quarterly management board meeting and training seminars to prepare and deliver. Whoever said deadlines did not focus one’s mind?

It has been great to get out and meet IIMS members and a number of non-members too both in Baltimore at the IIMS North American two day Conference held at MITAGS, as well as at what turned out to be a truly informative one day course entitled ‘How to conduct a complete mast and rigging survey’, expertly delivered by Kim Skov-Nielsen in Southampton. Full reports on both events can be found elsewhere in this news bulletin.

We are delighted to welcome five new members from South Korea and there is an article about them written by IIMS member, Peter Broad. There is also news about the sale of Geoff Waddington’s business as our Deputy Vice President seeks a quieter surveying life in semi-retirement in Portugal.

View the bulletin to continue reading: News Bulletin April 2018 (pdf format) or click to read it in e-reader format.

The IIMS means different things to its many members, but two areas where I think the Institute can really make a positive impact are in the area of raising surveyor standards globally and training. Whilst raising standards is a desirable goal, it needs a bit more thinking time still. However, the training plan that has come together for 2018 is, I believe, remarkable and full of impact.

The formation of an IIMS Inland Waterways Working Group is an important step and development – their first training event takes place in April – through to the IIMS Conference in Sydney in early August; or the 24 hour Marine Surveying International fest 2018, or the eCMId seminar in London in May perhaps? There really is something in the coming months for surveyors practising in most areas of the business. I hope you will choose to get involved as the year progresses.

View the bulletin to continue reading: News Bulletin March 2018 (pdf format) or click to read it in e-reader format.

The marine year got off to a troubled and sombre start. I am referring to the tragic accident and substantial loss of life and potential environmental meltdown caused by the collision between the Iranian owned tanker MV Sanchi and the Hong Kong-flagged cargo ship CF Crystal, leading to the subsequent sinking of the former. That such a shocking event can still occur in 2018 seems hard to understand. It is not known yet if the cause will ever be discovered. What can we learn from this awful incident?

So, continuing on a downbeat theme, news has reached me of the death of two well respected, senior IIMS full members. New Zealand Surveyor, Terry Reynolds MIIMS, tragically lost his life in a work-related incident at the end of 2017. Another tragedy has recently resulted in the death of Peter Green MIIMS. Although located in Germany, Peter spent a good deal of his time surveying in Spain and the Balearic Islands and was well known in that area.

View the bulletin to continue reading: News Bulletin February 2018 (pdf format) or click to read it in e-reader format.

December was an interesting month in the ever-evolving world of IIMS. The phrase ‘all change’ springs to mind once more. A planned and fairly major office move was successfully undertaken. All staff have moved to new offices – the administration team coming together in one space and also the same for the accounts team too. You can read more details elsewhere in this bulletin. All in all I am pleased with the outcome and believe it makes our way of working friendlier and more efficient.

I would also like to reference the outbound team building day that the head office staff undertook in early December – once again more details can be found elsewhere in this bulletin. The team was set a series of challenges and tasks to overcome, both as a group and also in smaller subsets if they were to achieve their goal. All in all a worthwhile day and we learned a lot about each other.

Happy New Year to you if you are reading this. So what will 2018 hold? Well, I am acutely aware that for some members in certain parts of the world, (and in some specific surveying disciplines), the profession is a tough one and sadly likely to remain so.

View the bulletin to continue reading: News-Bulletin-January-2018 (pdf format) or click to read it in e-reader format.

November. Now where did that go? Ah yes I remember – it vanished in something of a whirl. From one training event and seminar to another. Hugely rewarding for me personally though I have to say and I was delighted to meet so many members, both at the recent UK events and at the UAE Branch Conference over the course of the month. I have learnt a great deal, which for a highly non-technical person such as me is probably a dangerous thing! However, it occurred to me that if I did, then so did our members too. Certainly the positive feedback would suggest that to be the case.

View the bulletin to continue reading: News-Bulletin December-2017 (pdf format)