The Surveyor’s Notebook and Discovery
by Mike Wall
The majority of marine surveyors carry a notebook during their surveys, inspections and investigations to record relevant information. Some surveyors may use a Dictaphone or Smartphone to verbally record information. Whichever is used, it is important to remember that the notebook is a legal document and that the recorded information may be revealed in court during litigation under the rules of ‘discovery’ or ‘disclosure’.
Notebooks are usually A6 paper size and around 20 mm thick so that they fit neatly into a boiler suit top pocket. They should be easily accessible and used frequently, no matter how good you are at remembering what you have seen. Checklists may also be pasted into the notebook for easy reference for new surveyors or when senility is setting in.
A new page is started for every new job with the vessel’s name, job number, date, place and type of survey recorded. Then follows relevant and pertinent information relating to the surveyor’s findings. This may also include a schedule of events with dates, times, locations with times in 24 hour format for easy sorting.
TIP: Rip off the top corner of the last page so that you can find the next page easily when ready to make an entry.
The surveyor may also find it useful to record aspects of photographs which have been taken, particularly when related to similar pieces of equipment, eg, pistons, hatch covers, etc, as most cameras and smartphones do not accommodate such notes.
128 | The Report • June 2022 • Issue 100
There is an old saying that ‘A picture says a thousand words’. For a surveyor this means that a picture or graphic can replace a thousand words in a report. As an example, try to describe a ship that you have recently surveyed in less than one thousand words. Your description should include the number of holds, watertight bulkheads, hatch covers, cranes, water ballast, fuel and fresh water tanks. Not easy!
This is why most surveyors draw a plan view of the vessel they are visiting before they start the survey, particularly when surveying hull damage. This should show the main deck outline showing bulkheads and their frame numbers, holds, hatches and deck cranes. It may also show the forepeak tank, double bottom, after peak and wing ballast tanks. A useful trick is to have an A6 sized Perspex sheet with the main deck outline cut out. This can then be used repeatedly as a template for the ship’s plan. It can be stored in a cardboard pouch on the inside of the notebook back cover.
Before digital photography came into being, diagrams and sketches were particularly useful in faxed or emailed preliminary reports. The
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