Reporting and Reviews

An excellent safety measure onboard is your Safety Management System, your SMS. In your SMS, the majority of all procedures performed onboard are described. However, it must be continuously reviewed to ensure the SMS's accuracy. You or your colleagues could perform this review since everyone onboard is welcome to suggest improvements, but there are periodic reviews as well; these are described further down.

The SMS does describe not only procedures and routines but also your obligations on reporting. The reports ensure that these events will be investigated and reduce the risk of them happening again. When reporting, the following must be included:

• Accidents,
• Near-accidents,
• Non-conformities, and
• Suggested modifications to the SMS.

In your SMS, you can read more about how to fill out the reports and to whom you should give them. Knowing how to fill out an accident or near-accident report is one of your most essential responsibilities since it can happen anytime. The right knowledge is the best way to prepare yourself for the job. Hopefully, you will not need to fill out any of these reports during your time aboard.

Accidents

An accident is: "An undesired event that results in harm to people or damage to property or environment." 

All accidents will be investigated to find the root cause and prevent a recurrence. We all try to avoid accidents to ensure safety onboard is established. This is to protect human life as well as avoid unnecessary financial losses.

Near-accidents

A Near- accident is defined as: "An undesired event which, under slightly different circumstances, could have resulted in harm to people, damage to property or environment, or loss of process." 

All near-accidents or near-misses will be investigated to find the root cause and prevent a real accident. These events should also be avoided as they might as well have led to some form of injury to people or things. It is important to find out what went wrong.

Non-conformities

A non-conformity is: "An observed situation where objective evidence indicates a specified requirement was not fulfilled."

That means a situation where you, or someone else on board, are not following procedures in either your company's safety management system (SMS) or following any other regulations. Also, the non-conformities shall be investigated to determine why a requirement wasn't fulfilled. This could lead to changes in procedures.

Suggest Modification to the SMS

As mentioned at the beginning of this step, anyone can suggest changes to the SMS. It can be during any situation when you think the Safety Management System (SMS) should be updated. It could be when installing new equipment or if you have a better procedure to perform a work task. If you find a better and safer way to do something than what is stated in the SMS, you should report this, so changes can be done.

An Example:

We are now going to exemplify these different reports for you. Let's say that you are going to lift some stores from the marina to the deck, and you are going to use a crane. You have made sure that no one is moving under or around the stores during the lift, and before you start your lift, you have followed the instruction on how to test the crane before putting any weight on it, e.g., making sure it runs smooth and checking that the hook is in good order. Suddenly, the crane's hook loses grip, and the stores are dropped, hitting a person walking on the pier. This event would be classified as an accident since the store fell on a bystander. 

Now let's say that you were about to perform the same procedure. Once again, you have ensured no one is moving around while performing the lift and followed the instructions on testing the crane and hook before lifting. The hook loses its grip once again, but only this time, the stores do not fall. The procedure is stopped, and you were able to put the hook back on. This event would be classified as a near-accident since there is a risk of harm. 

But what is a non-conformity, then?... Let's say again that this procedure was about to happen, and everything ran smoothly. But, you forgot to test the crane and hook before you started lifting. This miss would most probably not lead to any risk or harm, but it does not follow the procedures of how to perform a lift. This event is, therefore, an example of a non-conformity.

A suggestion for improvement of this procedure could be that two persons are present while performing the job, where one puts on the hook and another checks it, ensuring that it is properly secured. By that, you would double-check each other, and the risk of harm decreases. This could be a possible suggested modification to the SMS. 

Remember, this is only one example to understand these reporting procedures better. 

Audits

The SMS must be audited regularly to ensure that it is up to date with the procedure and routines carried out onboard. It can be either an internal or external audit. The external audit is performed by the flag state authority or classification society. An internal audit can be performed by someone from the company that is not working onboard the vessel. The audit's purpose is to ensure that the safety management system (SMS) procedures are followed.

Reviews

The safety management system (SMS) must be reviewed regularly. There are two types of reviews: Master's Review and Management Review.

Master's Review

The Master should annually review the SMS to ensure that the vessel is operating accordingly and that procedures are realistic and suitable.

Management Review

The company management should also review the SMS once a year. The review must, at least, include an analysis of accidents and near-accidents and audit findings. It should also include: 

• An evaluation of the Master's Reviews,
• Recommendations following class and statutory surveys, and
• A review of policies to make sure they meet current needs.

These different types of reviews and audits are to ensure that the SMS is up to date. Remember that the procedures described in the SMS need to be followed; if not, accidents can occur. It is, therefore, of utmost importance that they are accurate and safe. If you have any suggestions for the SMS, make sure to report them.