Page 18: of Marine News Magazine (February 2016)

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REGULATORY WATCH

The Designated Person Ashore and You

Don’t overlook this important part of your regulatory compliance chain.

By (Captain) Katharine Sweeney

As the workboat industry marches indicated whistleblowers are good for companies overall, toward Subchapter M, and ever closer and often whistleblowers have the company’s best inter- to the International Safety Manage- ests in mind. This may be hard to accept, given that the ment (ISM) Code, the appointment of press reports whistleblowers get 25% of the ? nes invoked a Designated Person Ashore (DPA) be- for MARPOL violations. Maybe the WSJ did not consult comes more important, the position’s with the maritime industry on this one, but I believe, over- job functions become more de? ned, all, employees do not want to see the company they work and the selection of the right individual for and their own jobs put at risk.

Sweeney becomes more critical. In any case, your company needs a system that allows for free ? ow of internal communications to avoid the likeli-

EFINING THE

D DPA hood those employees will feel the need to notify authori-

The DPA can be a very important “pressure relief valve” ties if they perceive a problem. Contacting the DPA is not that keeps emerging ethical and safety related concerns whistleblowing. It is using the system as it was designed to from exploding into litigation. The DPA allows anyone resolve issues early. Notifying the DPA should be encour- working on board a vessel to report perceived unethical aged, as it protects the company from potentially serious behavior or unsafe conditions (including the safety of the problems. Your company may already have an ethics or crew, vessel, or environment). The DPA requirement is human relations hotline for employees to contact if they another mechanism, such as the “all stop” policy, which believe they are witnessing unethical practices or mistreat- enables employees to internally act on their concerns. ment. The DPA is another, more vessel speci? c, avenue for

The DPA is a cornerstone of the ISM code. The code your employees. requires among other things for DPA to have knowledge A while back, while I was conducting an internal ISM of the subject matter and direct access to top-level man- audit, the vessel’s master voiced his concern about his com- agement, and a position outside the normal chain of com- pany’s actions following the injury of a crewmember. The mand. The DPA also needs access to resources (be it time, crewmember slipped and sprained an ankle after missing a money, or personnel) and the ability to affect change to the step. He had come off the deck on a very bright, tropical safety management system (SMS). In addition to the ISM day and his transition lenses did not adjust quickly enough code, the most recent revision of the American Waterway to see the step. The company kept the crewmember on

Operators (AWO) Responsible Carrier Program (RCP) in- board for a short period, and then put him to work in cludes even more requirements relating to the DPA. the of? ce to avoid a Lost Time Injury against the vessel’s

The crew on board, as well as everyone ashore associated record. Contacting the DPA and discussing the matter with the management of the vessels and the SMS, must be would have been an excellent means to address this mas- able to identify the DPA and know how and when to con- ter’s dissatisfaction and could have potentially resolved the tact them. The DPA should have a documentation system issue before the master felt compelled to bring it to the in place to record these concerns brought forward and how attention of an internal auditor.

they were dealt with. In addition, your SMS must desig- I was on board another vessel recently which had a series nate the minimum training and quali? cation requirements of unfortunate events leading to cargo loss and a violation for the DPA position. of MARPOL. Although not intentional, material ended up in a marine sanctuary. One of the links in the error

T DPA A chain was a very short port stay. If the master or crew had

HE IN CTION

Some may see a call to the DPA as whistleblowing; a realized that the DPA was a resource, perhaps one of them loaded term. However, a recent Wall Street Journal article would have alerted the DPA to the dif? culty of managing

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