OCIMF publishes its annual report for 2021

Executive Committee 2020 activity

The Committee heard updates on the approved strategic projects and endorsed the plan to roll out new Secretariat and Committee structures. The re-organised Secretariat would be implemented in July and a phased implementation of the new Committee Structure would commence in September.

The committee was also updated on the progress of the SIRE 2.0 project (Vessel Inspection Programme (VIP)) and approved ongoing expenditure to continue development activities.

COVID-19 impacts were discussed, including staff working from home, virtual meetings, inspection programme guidance bulletins, remote inspection development, inspector training and audits and cancellation of various planned activities including OCIMF’s 50th Anniversary event. The committee provided input and guidance for managing core activities during the pandemic.

INTERTANKO/OCIMF Joint Safety Initiative

INTERTANKO and OCIMF have been collaborating through the Joint Safety Initiative since 2016. The Joint Steering Group has produced best practices and guidance on mutual interest subjects such as Sharing Lessons Learned from Incidents and Behavioural Competency Assessment and Verification for Vessel Operators. On 1 December 2020, the joint Tanker Accident Database (TAD) went live. This database is free to use by tanker operators and although developed, funded and governed by INTERTANKO and OCIMF; it is run by a third party to ensure complete anonymity for the operator. INTERTANKO and OCIMF only have access to data, which has been stripped of identifiers, and will use this data to analyse statistics to highlight emerging trends and areas of risk that can be improved through the Joint Safety Initiative for the benefit of the industry.

Survey on the marine environment

OCIMF is undertaking a project to develop a paper that sets out its ambitions and action plan on the marine environment that is in line with OCIMF Vision, Mission and Strategic Priorities. To assist in this process, OCIMF carried out an online survey to help understand ambitions on the marine environment and the actions that are critical to deliver the ambitions in the short (2020s), medium (2030s) and long term (2040s).

The project team completed the members survey and consultations, in order to build a more complete view of operators’ collective voice. They then completed analysis of the reviews and drafted a white paper that was shared at a virtual stakeholder workshop.

The study findings were presented and discussed with key stakeholders involved in the plan’s development and there was good alignment across the members participating in the workshop.

OCIMF aims to align the plan with the ongoing output of the emerging risks and opportunities strategic project that will form the basis of supporting OCIMF’s refreshed Strategy, structure and new ways of working that is risk-based, future-focussed and resource-loaded towards the highest impact risks to our industry

said OCIMF.

Communities of Practice

To engage all OCIMF’s members and to benefit from their collective experience and expertise, OCIMF expert groups facilitate and coordinate a number of Communities of Practice (CoPs). CoPs are established platforms for sharing, learning and collaboration by OCIMF members and invited stakeholders. CoPs feed a wide range of member views and expertise into the expert groups and, ultimately, up to the relevant principal committees. CoP primary objectives are:

• To share and promote discussion on major trends and risks, including HSSE incidents and lessons learned from within the industry.
• To share best practices with all interested members of the Forum.
• To share information on what is working well and areas for improvement in OCIMF and industry.
• To provide platforms for well balanced and diverse membership participation by region, expertise, trade, etc.

Online training

Αlthough OCIMF hit the pause button on all inspector training in 2020, we have been busy exploring options and establishing strategies to migrate our existing in-person training to an alldigital format. Training programmes for inspectors were reviewed and adapted for delivery online.

Recognising that online learning (such as virtual live sessions such as webcasts, virtual classrooms, and video/audioconferencing) may not always work well for socioemotional and interpersonal skill building, OCIMF explored Learning Management Systems (LMS) with features which help keep participants engaged

While the pandemic has been a huge factor in the accelerated drive towards online training, they also provide high standards and value for money. As part of the review of various online delivery platforms, OCIMF delivered its first online SIRE inspector New Inspector course for the North America Cat-3 region.

This online training course was very successful and served as a pilot scheme for future online training courses to be delivered under SIRE and OVID. All these efforts culminated with OCIMF teaming up with TopHat.com as its preferred LMS and online training delivery platform

Remote inspections 

The choice of opting for a remote inspection lies entirely with a Submitting Company or Programme Recipient and not the Vessel Operator. A Submitting Company decides on a case-by-case basis whether or not to commission a remote inspection – and a Programme Recipient decides on a case-by-case basis whether or not to accept a remote inspection report. Therefore, acceptance of a remote inspection by a Submitting Company or Programme Recipient cannot be guaranteed.

Inspections are requested through the usual channels. The Vessel Operator does not have the option to select a remote inspection when requesting an inspection. A Submitting Company may choose to initiate this option and request relevant information from the Vessel Operator.

Once a remote inspection has been selected and commissioned by a Submitting Company, the Vessel Operator and inspector are notified via automated messages.

The completed Inspection Questionnaire is then provided to the Submitting Company for their review and validation. Once validated, the report is published to the programme website.

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