JULY 2014
STAFF NEWS Hi everyone, For us and every other commercial vessel operator this means a greater responsibility for the safety and compliance aspects of our operation. In the past we could rely on the services of a Safe Ship Management Company to act as third party between us and the regulator, Maritime NZ. The new system means we have a direct relationship with the regulator whilst retaining the services of a marine surveyor. I’ve been out catching up with a number of our vessel crews discussing our plans for MOSS. We are in the enviable position of having a technology platform at Fullers that will enable us to push most of our documentation onto our SharePoint system and this will mean smaller vessel manuals (less paper!) and greater visibility for vessel crews of our operator plan, a key requirement of the new system. Our operator plan is partially built and we’re currently reviewing our Standard Operating Procedures, Emergency Operating Procedures and Standing Orders. New legislation means we have a few gaps we need to close in our procedures around things like the carriage of dangerous goods. From what I have seen we’ve been doing this safely to date, however, we just need to get the process documented so we can demonstrate to the regulator that we take safety seriously.
MOSS coincides with changes to Seafarer Licensing, which for us means the 150 or so certificates that our people hold need to be transitioned to a new certification framework between now and 2019; for most this will be relatively straight forward but for a very small portion there may be some refresher training to undertake, and in my case there will be a requirement to demonstrate competence as I no longer have the ability to accrue “sea time” but am in an aligned maritime safety role, I’m sure there will be a few others “in the same boat”.
Almost two months into the new role and all things MOSS are progressing well for Health and Safety manager Alistair Thomson.
On the Health and Safety front the Health and Safety Amendment Bill made it through its first reading at select committee. The Transport and Industrial Relations Committee receives a report and then the Bill should progress for its second reading. The new legislation has a number of implications for our business so we’re keeping a weather eye on it! Thanks for making me feel so welcome in the new role and all the support getting me up to speed with the way we do things. My family (Rachel, Lucy 5 ¾ and William 4 1/2) particularly enjoyed the day out on Takahe recently with Lucy reluctant to give control of the vessel back to “Captain Dan”! I’m enjoying being part of an organisation committed to industry best practice and will be utilising the huge knowledge base we have at Fullers to help make this happen.
Cheers, Al.
Alistair is seen here with son William enjoying the Takahe re-naming fun day. See more pics of the celebration on page 3.
It’s winter...and Time for a laugh! So we’re giving away 8 double Hoyts movie tickets!
Simply send your contact details to competitions@fullers.co.nz and you’ll go in the draw to a fun night out with a friend!
Al