III.
Promoting loss prevention and raising standards
That marine surveyors play an important role in raising safety standards and promoting a culture of safety and loss prevention in shipping cannot be overstated.
For example, a unique feature of The Standard Club is its ‘Safety and Loss Advisory Committees’ (‘SLAC’s’) of which there are three: Asia, Europe and London Class19
.
The SLAC’s are managed by the club’s Loss Prevention team and the members are drawn from senior technical and marine managers from amongst the club’s global membership, who possess the requisite experience and expertise to grapple with complex issues and who have sufficient authority to act on the findings within their own organisation.
The SLAC’s have proven successful in their 22 years of existence. They examine both individual claims and claims trends as means to determine the root causes and recommend preventative measures as well as discuss the implications of new regulations, review loss prevention initiatives and other topical subjects affecting the maritime industry and provide direction for the Standard Club’s loss prevention initiatives.
Additionally, the club devotes significant resources to publishing articles, guidance notes and web alerts to increase awareness of loss prevention and safety issues within the membership and in the wider shipping community20 The club remains constantly live to current risks whether they arise from new technologies21
. or ancient threats22 .
All year round and around the world, the clubs conduct and participate in seminars and provide training for their members at seminars and conferences, sharing freely of their experiences and the lessons gleaned over the course of many years of experience in loss prevention.
The clubs collaborate with other organizations to improve safety and loss prevention. Two examples from the Standard Club include the “Be Cyber Aware At Sea” and the “Human Element” initiatives, both of which produced various publications and films to raise awareness in respect of precautions to be taken to prevent cyber-attacks at sea and to reducing incidents at sea caused by human lapses, respectively.
Conclusion
From a club perspective, the role of the marine surveyor today to make shipping safer and more efficient is wide, varied and indispensable to the shipping industry. As to the qualities of the ideal marine surveyor, it is appropriate to consider the description well-encapsulated by the International Association of Classification Societies (IACS) as below:
‘…The utmost care and discrimination have been exercised by the Committee in the selection of men [and women] of talent, integrity, and firmness as Surveyors, on whom the practical efficacy of the system and the contemplated
advantages must so materially depend; the Committee have in their judgement appointed those persons only…who appeared to them to be most competent to discharge the important duties of their situations with fidelity and ability, and to ensure strict and impartial justice to all parties whose property shall come under their supervision…’
-Classification societies – their key role – IACS, 2012
The author gratefully acknowledges the input from Capt. Akshat Arora, Senior Surveyor, Charles Taylor Mutual Management (Asia) Pte. Limited, managers of The Standard Club Asia Ltd in the preparation of this article.
19 The London Class SLAC focuses on inland waterways’ claims, whilst the Asia and Europe SLACs examine the claims generated by the Standard Club’s
‘blue water’ business. All divisions meet twice a year. 20 See
http://www.standard-club.com/loss-prevention/
about-loss-prevention.aspx and
http://www.standard-club.com/news-and-knowledge 21 See e.g. Technology Bulletin, September 2018
http://www.standard-club.com/news-and-knowledge/news/2018/09/technology-bulletin-
september-2018.aspx 22 Web Alert: BMP5 and Global Counter Piracy Guidance
http://www.standard-club.com/news-and-knowledge/news/2018/09/web-alert-bmp5-
and-global-counter-piracy-guidance-printed-copies-out-now.aspx
42 | The Report • December 2018 • Issue 86
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