Dear Members,
The restructuring of the oil and gas industry has been well telegraphed in the last month, with significant asset impairments announced by the supermajors and the inevitable reorganisation strategies in play. Our industry is responding appropriately, which we will all follow closely. The leadership teams within our member companies have difficult choices and we wish them well.
I am sure that it will be of no surprise to anyone to hear that our Annual Seminar which was scheduled to take place in early October has been postponed. This is disappointing of course, as it was billed as a celebratory event on our 25th Anniversary, but we have to be pragmatic and will reschedule it for 2021, or if need be later when we can once again freely and safely socialise together. In the meantime, we will press ahead with our webinars and extensive virtual committee meeting programme.
Despite not holding our flagship conference this year, we will continue with our annual awards programme. Details are included in this edition of Making Waves. The award categories are as usual in Safety and Environmental Sustainability, with a further special category for COVID-19 related initiatives. The winners will be announced in late November and the award ceremony will take place when we can hold a physical event or seminar in 2021.
In the last issue, I mentioned the progress we are making with our IT systems, this is continuing with the migrating of all our committees from SharePoint to Teams and moving our highly successful online eCMID vessel assurance system to a Progressive Web Application format. The PWA will allow Accredited Vessel Inspectors to record their surveys on a tablet or PC completely seamlessly, and with the capability of working online or offline.
The system is also being extended to include an eDESIGN module for the inspection of DSV diving systems in accordance with our DESIGN rules. This programme has the full support of the International Diving Industry Forum (IOGP, ADCI and IMCA) and will be expanded to include Accredited Diving System Inspectors. The ambition is to reduce costs by way of eliminating the duplication of effort and the streamlining of processes.
Our work with helping Member companies address the practical and humanitarian problems of repatriating crew, who have been stuck and unable to travel due to COVID-19 restrictions, continues with good success. Recently we were able to help facilitate a mercy flight for 33 Malaysian crew who had been stuck in Lagos for many months and unable to return home. Our work in this area will continue as long as necessary.
As always, let’s all stay safe and healthy.
Allen Leatt, IMCA Chief Executive
hosted by the UK Government on 9 July where 12 other governments also pledged their support for actions needed to ensure the welfare of the world’s seafarers during the COVID-19 pandemic, including making sure that crew changes can take place in a safe and timely manner.
The International Maritime Organisation has received Recommendations for port and coastal States on the prompt disembarkation of seafarers for medical care ashore during the COVID-19 pandemic, developed by a broad cross section of global industry associations in consultative status with the Organization representing the maritime transportation sector including IMCA.
IOGP’s Life-Saving Rules are among the most effective techniques for preventing fatalities, and information on them has proved to be a very popular download from the 
starting to increase activity levels in some areas we believe this letter should act as a timely reminder for all our members to remain vigilant with regards to health and safety. We are currently defining our approach to the HSE’s request however the first step is sharing the letter with our members 
IMCA has analysed over 2,100 vessel inspection reports uploaded into the eCMID database and produced a summary of key findings.
Over the past five years, the Marine Surveying Academy (MSA), which manages the eCMID accreditation scheme for IMCA, has delivered successful one day courses to hundreds of delegates at locations around the world. The arrival of the COVID-19 pandemic changed all that, stopped the programme in its tracks causing a rethink.
system. We receive feedback on a regular basis and take onboard all the suggestions made and explore any issues the users may experience.
