The Maritime Authorities of the Tokyo and the Paris Memoranda of Understanding (MoU) on Port State Control have begun a joint Concentrated Inspection Campaign (CIC) on Crew Familiarization for Enclosed Space Entry.
The campaign is aimed at ensuring effective procedures and measures are in place to safeguard seafarers on board ships when entering and working in enclosed spaces and to check compliance with the applicable requirements of the SOLAS Convention.
The three-month inspection campaign started on 1 September 2015 and is ending on 30 November 2015.
Within the campaign, inspectors will check in detail the ship’s procedures and measures that are in place with respect to enclosed spaces to see whether they comply with the requirements of SOLAS during a regular Port State Control inspection, conducted under the new inspection regime (NIR) within the Tokyo and Paris MoU regions.
Port State Control Officers (PSCOs) will use a list of 10 selected questions to establish that crew members with enclosed space duties are familiar with relevant equipment and have received training to carry out their duties and identify and understand the hazards associated with entry into enclosed spaces. Additionally, they will also gather information about the existence of measures in place to test the atmosphere of an enclosed space to confirm if it is safe to enter and remain safe whilst persons are within the space.
If deficiencies are found, actions by the port state may vary from recording a deficiency and instructing the master to rectify it within a certain period of time, to detaining the ship until serious deficiencies have been rectified. In the case of detention, a ship will be added to the monthly detention lists of the Tokyo and Paris MoUs web sites.
It is expected that the Tokyo and Paris MoUs will carry out approximately 10,000 inspections during the CIC.
Once completed, the maritime authorities said that they would analyze the campaign results and present the findings to the governing bodies of the MoUs for submission to the IMO.