The Oil Companies International Marine Forum (OCIMF) will include from September 1st 2020 remote vessel inspection option as a temporary tool within its Offshore Vessel Inspection Database (OVID), the inspection protocol for offshore vessels.
To remind, the option to use remote inspections within OCIMF’s Ship Inspection Report (SIRE) programme was successfully rolled-out in August 2020.
OCIMF highlights that physical inspections could be used whenever it is safe and practicable to do so, subject to travel restrictions and other national and international health and safety guidance.
Moreover, a report inspection will require the vessel operator to complete a detailed questionnaire and upload a series of documents and certificates to a dedicated online repository.
This information will be reviewed remotely by an OCIMF inspector who will be required to complete a further questionnaire drawing on the vessel operator’s information and by requesting further detail from the vessel by telephone/video.
Rob Drysdale, Managing Director, OCIMF, concluded that
We have taken the step to offer a remote inspection option within our inspection programmes as a way of providing an additional safety-net to ensure that the highest standards of safety and best practice are maintained.
