COVID-19 is having a significant impact worldwide on our daily lives, on our industry and working activities. IMCA has a dedicated webpage bringing together the various safety flashes and briefing notes we are circulating to our members related to COVID-19. Keep up to date with the latest industry and expert guidance.

IMCA is part of a COVID-19 Industry Group which has collaborated with the International Maritime Organization (IMO), World Health Organization (WHO) and International Labor Organization (ILO) to develop a preliminary list of recommendations for Governments and relevant national authorities on the facilitation of maritime trade during the pandemic.

This COVID-19 Pandemic Industry Group comprises a broad cross section of global industry associations with consultative status at IMO representing the maritime transportation sector: ICS, BIMCO, CLIA, FONASBA, IACS, IAPH, IMCA, IMEC, INTERCARGO, INTERFERRY, INTERMANAGER, INTERTANKO, IPTA, ITF, P&I Clubs and WSC (plus ASA and ECSA).

IMCA has been instrumental in the IMO establishing a Correspondence Group to revise the IMO Diving Code. The go ahead to progress with the revision and update of the IMO Code of Safety for Diving Systems and the Guidelines and Specifications for Hyperbaric Evacuation Systems was given following a review by the IMO Sub-Committee on Ship Systems and Equipment early in March.

Two proposals, which were prepared and submitted by IMCA and its co-sponsors, IMO Member States - the Bahamas and the Marshall Islands, received overwhelming support.

Since opening the submission process for 2019 Contractor Member Safety Statistics earlier in the year we have received data from more than 130 members. Thank you to those who have submitted their data. Details are anonymised and are now collated and live on our portal.

Given the situation with COVID-19 and the impact it is having on our Members we are extending the submission deadline to 20 April. Please browse to www.imca-int.com/data/safety/submit, log in using your IMCA company login details and click on “Submit Data”. You will then be taken to an easy to use web-based form.

The window for submission of 2019 IMCA contractor member safety statistical data is now open and will close on 20 April 2020. There are now sufficient members who have submitted data that we can calculate statistically meaningful 2019 IMCA figures. The 2019 data are now published live at Nick Hough, IMCA Technical Adviser.

IMCA safety flashes and systems for incident reporting and analysis are an important tool for sharing vital information. By publishing them, IMCA helps its members around the world identify potential hazards, share lessons learnt and avoid repetition. Safety flashes should be succinct, specific, factually correct and written in clear language. The IMCA secretariat will assist with this through formatting and checking of the material submitted.

Visit our IMCA incident reports.

IOGP Life Saving Rules
You may notice that we are starting to reference – where appropriate - International Association of Oil & Gas Producers (IOGP) Life Saving Rules.

Anonymity
All submissions are handled in the strictest confidence, with information anonymised, checked before issue and published only with clear permission from the originator. IMCA remains aware that it is sometimes necessary for members to take legal advice before sharing incident information, and we would stress that published safety flashes are always completely anonymous. IMCA does encourage members to continue to share information about incidents, hazards and lessons learnt, as far as is reasonably practical.

Earlier this year IMCA was invited to give a presentation to Equinor’s contractors at their annual “Safety and Sustainability” (SSU) meeting in Stavanger, Norway. The topic was “IMCA’s role and expectations in safety experience sharing”.

Nick Hough, IMCA Technical Adviser, and Margaret Fitzgerald, IMCA Head of Policy & Regulatory Affairs, also held constructive discussions with people from Equinor relating to Marine Policy and Regulatory Affairs, and Contracts & Insurance.

IMCA has launched a Continuing Professional Development (CPD) Scheme for Diving Supervisors. Following a successful pilot of the scheme, we have just started a phased launch of the Diving Supervisors' Scheme and App.

Registration open
More than 300 Diving Supervisors pre-registered for the scheme. We encourage you to register to allow our certification team to verify your registration and create your user account. You may recall that this will be voluntary during 2020 and from Q1 2021 will be a mandatory requirement to maintain IMCA Certification.

Find out more about the Scheme and the successful trial phase

IMCA’s Security Committee has just published an Information Note for Members which shares key guidance sources relating to security risk management. The Information Note focuses on Piracy and Armed Robbery hot spots and relevant guidance provided by Maritime Global Security. Read the Information Note 

IMCA fully supports and recommends the recently published Best Management Practices to Deter Piracy and Enhance Maritime Security off the Coast of West Africa including the Gulf of Guinea and was part of an industry wide group involved in collating this document. Read more

Due to the COVID-19 situation, we have changed the format of our scheduled face to face regional meetings until further notice. These meetings will now take the form of webinars which will enable us to keep our members up to date with our activities. Upcoming webinars include IMCA's update to our members in:

• Middle East & India (21 April);
• Europe & Africa (3 June); and
• Asia Pacific (10 June).

Early in March we achieved a record attendance at a South America Regional Meeting in Rio de Janeiro, where IMCA reassured clients that our vessel owning / operating members follow IMCA guidance, which means that both vessels and crews meet industry good practice requirements.

Please ensure MakingWaves@imca-int.com is on your safe list. For any comments, please contact IMCA Editorial Team.

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