IMCA improves CMID system

In an effort to reduce the burden of over-auditing, the International Marine Contractors Association’s IMCA plans to improve the quality of their Common Marine Inspection Document system (CMID) by adopting a greater degree of oversight of the system. This will enable greater cooperation with the Offshore Vessel Inspection Database (OVID).

The Accredited Vessel Inspector (AVI) scheme is already proving successful, and changes will be made that ensure that by January 2018 only AVIs are able to use the eCMID database and only eCMID reports, rather than paper versions, will be recognised by IMCA as a formal report.

“We believe that these steps are necessary for this widely used vessel safety management system audit process, to ensure it keeps pace with current and future expectations of stakeholders in the offshore energy industry,” explained IMCA’s Technical Director, Richard Benzie. “We encourage, and welcome, feedback and recommendations from members on all our guidance documents and any questions on the new regime for CMID and Marine Inspection for Small Workboats (MISW) should be forwarded to Chris Baldwin at IMCA Head Office at Chris.Baldwin@imca-int.com.”

IMCA has already taken steps to address the competence assurance of vessel inspectors through its recognition of the AVI scheme delivered by the International Institute of Marine Surveying (IIMS). This scheme has now attracted well over 200 applications. The CMID system is now based on ISO 19011 Guidance on Auditing Management Systems and closely follows the guidance of the International Register of Chartered Auditors (IRCA).

The next step is to address the absence of control over the conduct, distribution and cyber security aspects of CMID and Marine Inspection for Small Workboats (MISWB) reports.

To do so, IMCA will only recognise formal inspection reports conducted using the eCMID database, and only validated AVIs will be able to use the eCMID database and thereby conduct these authorised IMCA CMID and MISW inspections. In order to ensure that the CMID user community can adapt to this revised arrangement the new regime will commence in January 2018 enabling vessel owners/operators sufficient time to register on the eCMID database and to manage their vessel details accordingly.

Edited from press release by Angharad Lock

Read the article online at: https://www.worldpipelines.com/business-news/21062016/imca-improves-cmid-system-2663/