How COVID-19 has affected the role of the marine surveyor
The Report Magazine asked a number of IIMS members from various worldwide locations to give an overview on how COVID-19 has changed the surveying landscape this year. What emerges are certain similarities from country to country and, no matter if you are surveying motorboats, yachts, commercial vessels - and anything else in between - the pandemic has had a profound effect on the surveying profession, communication with clients and many aspects of how the surveyor conducts business.
Domestic travel has also been made difficult in Australia by the state governments imposing border closures and draconian measures for permitted workers to be able to cross borders. The measures have been put in place as Australia is trying to completely eradicate the virus.
Mick Uberti, Director of Maritime Survey Australia
commented, “COVID-19 has presented many challenges for us at Maritime Survey Australia (MSA). International Travel has stopped as the Australian Federal Government has made it difficult to travel and even harder to return as flight numbers are limited. While it is not impossible to travel internationally many clients have cancelled or delayed building a vessel which has a flow on effect.
These closures have had significant impact on national businesses, employers and employees who operate interstate. It remains unclear how long border control measures will remain in place, but it is predicted that closures will be in place for up to six months. We have had to consider alternate working arrangements to accommodate for these closures and to protect the health and safety of our surveyors.
We have developed a COVID-19 Safe Plan and have had to work
closely with clients to manage the survey. Our surveyors have been encouraged to get tested if they show any symptoms - we log all of our movements so we can assist with contact tracing if possible. The use of sanitisers, and social distancing and working from home has become the norm like the rest of the world. In Victoria, wearing masks is mandatory to prevent the spread of COVID-19.
The situation does not appear to be getting better at the time of writing. Globally we have more than 35 million COVID-19 cases and more than a million deaths. While people are getting fatigued, I suspect the next 12 months will be much the same as it is now. We need to learn to live with the disease the best way we can. Even if we have a vaccine, the logistics of rolling this out will take years.
The Report • December 2020 • Issue 94 | 43
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84 |
Page 85 |
Page 86 |
Page 87 |
Page 88 |
Page 89 |
Page 90 |
Page 91 |
Page 92 |
Page 93 |
Page 94 |
Page 95 |
Page 96 |
Page 97 |
Page 98 |
Page 99 |
Page 100 |
Page 101 |
Page 102 |
Page 103 |
Page 104 |
Page 105 |
Page 106 |
Page 107 |
Page 108 |
Page 109 |
Page 110 |
Page 111 |
Page 112 |
Page 113 |
Page 114 |
Page 115 |
Page 116
