The latest edition of the SOLAS Convention released in 2018. This edition is the continuation of the previously released SOLAS 2009 and SOLAS 2014. This is the most important of the documents issued by IMO. Traditionally, at starting from the very first edition of the convention, its main objective remains providing the maritime shipping industry with the carefully thought and well developed range of necessary measures to improve the human safety at sea.

As you know, the original release of the convention took place in 1914 and since then the provisions of the convention are the must-do to the people who want to stay safe when working at sea. The text of this latest edition of the convention has been revised and updated in order to reflect all the latest technological development as well as all changes in the regulatory framework.

The arrangement of the material follows the regular pattern in use for the past decades and traditionally covers all important areas related to the safety of life at sea. Needless to say that a copy of the convention is a must-have document on board every single ship to which the provisions of the convention apply, and in the library of every single person involved in the maritime shipping.

Less than five percent of rig accidents are caused by mechanical failure. People make safe operations. It is extremely important for everyone to develop a sense for safety and to practice self-improvement. Before acting, an individual must automatically consider ”will this put anyone in danger?”. Every crew member must be ever alert to risky or unsafe situations. Being alert is the best way to avoid injury to yourself and the crew. It is critical that a new crew member receives supervision and instruction in safe operating procedures immediately upon reporting for work. Industry data show that sixty percent, or more, of rig injuries involve people on the job less than six months. Even the experienced person may need supervision, especially if coming from a different type or size or rig.

Operator

Responsibility for the rig safety follows the corporate chain of command. All are involved; from the operator down to the new floorman.

Depending on the contract, an operator may specify the casing and mud programs to be followed, finish the casing, have it delivered, inspected, and specify the setting depth. If operators furnish the mud, they will control the type and weight and be responsible for having ample supplies on location, or nearby, to control the formation pressures encountered. Such matters are usually covered in the drilling contract. An operator must select a contractor with a rig capable of safely handling the job. The superintendent, field foreman, or consulting drilling engineer may be on location at crucial times and be in direct control of operations. At such times the operator is effectively in charge of seeing that the work is performed without endangering the crew, equipment, or well.

Drilling Contractor or Rig Owner

A contractor has the primary responsibility for safe drilling operations. The rig owner determines the safety policy and instructs the various supervisors to implement that policy, showing a genuine interest and actively participating in developing all aspects of the company’s safety programs. The rig’s safety record should be as important as performance. A good contractor will never allow cost-cutting measures to compromise crew safety. The contractor has a responsibility to the rig crew and to the client to provide safe drilling equipment. All equipment should be properly sized to safely handle expected load limits, pressures, and depth. All needed safeguards should be in place and meet, or exceed, applicable regulatory standards.

The contractor should be aware of, and in compliance with, all governmental regulations pertaining to drilling operations including permit requirements for certain jobs performed by the crew. Responsibility for safety training is given to the drilling superintendent, rig managers, and drillers. They in turn ensure that all personnel under their supervision participate in safety training and education. To underscore their interest in safe operations, some contactors provide safety bonuses, shared by crew and supervisors, after completion of a well.

Most multi-rig contractors have a safety engineer or director charged with the responsibility of overall safety matters. Usually safety personnel report directly to the company president or owner. Should an accident occur, they conduct a thorough investigation, prepare all reports and develop procedures to avoid a reoccurrence of the incident. At the direction of the owner, the safety director may implement a job safety analysis (JSA) program enlisting support and input from all personnel in order to achieve a safe work site.

Drilling Superintendent

Drilling superintendents, or managers, are in top management positions and usually report directly to the owner or company president. A superintendent may be in charge of the overall operations of several rigs, including the performance of the rig managers, drillers, crewmen, subcontractors, service company vendors, and other field personnel. The superintendent is in contact with the operator’s management both before and during drilling, and learns the capabilities of all the rigs and crews under supervision. Other aspects of the job may be to draw up the drilling contact or assure the client that the assigned crew can do the job safely and efficiently.

The superintendent works with the rig managers to see that the equipment and location are rigged up safely. Usual conditions at the locations are dealt with properly. Rig managers are informed on any changes in safety procedures or equipment on the rig and are required to conduct safety training for the crew. Training will include periodic rig inspections meant to spot potentially hazardous conditions and insure that such conditions are eliminated. Rig managers also deal with service companies, consultants, equipment engineers, and others working to improve rig performance and safety.

Continued

This set of two training video supplements the training booklet. The whole program was developed by the Videotel with the idea to provide all people on board with the necessary information on the VGP. The first video will explain what the Vessel General Permit is and what ships shall do in order to reach full compliance. The second video will take the viewers through all applicable requirements for the various discharge streams.

The VGP itself is a permit to the implementation of the United States environmental regulations relating to the effluent discharges from merchant ships. Subject regulations apply to the vessels more that seventy-nine feet in length visiting American ports and operating in American waters. The Permit supplements the relevant provisions of MARPOL convention which is internationally applied and making a part of the legal system of the United Stated.

What it means is that the ships in US waters shall be in full compliance with all requirements of the MARPOL together with the VGP. The main purpose of the Permit is to raise due awareness of the discharges, enabling better water pollution control from all merchant fleet vessels in the United States waters.

Have a look at this absolutely excellent textbook on welding. According to the numerous reviews by the readers from different parts of the world and involved in different industries, there is literally no other volume that would contribute so much to the prevention of the accidents more than this one.

The book will tell readers where they must not weld and also contains seventy-five images, ten detailed sketches and huge amount of relevant technical knowledge gathered from more than fifty years of practical experience in the field of construction. The publication will clearly explain all you need to know about welding providing the information normally not available from the ordinary textbooks.

Among the matters covered in the pages of the book there are welding stresses, confined expansion and many other things that could have negative effect on the quality of the welding seam. The book shall be treated as a perfect welding guidebook and maybe the best one for self-study. The authors prepared a truly great manual which gained a lot of popularity not only in the United States but in the other countries as well, and is recommended to anyone whose job involved welding, designing or inspecting welds.

The main declared objective of this training program consisting of the present booklet and supplementing video training lesson, is to provide ship masters and crew members with some essential knowledge of the VGP, i.e. Vessel General Permit. First of all, we will look into what the VGP is at all and why there was a need to introduce it.

Then we will check what VGP means for the ships and what exactly ship crew should do with respect to the established management procedures, inspections, necessary corrective actions, reporting practices, record keeping, and of course training. Particular attention has been paid to the compliance issues and importance has been duly underlined.

The document contains a brief summary of the things to be implemented to reach compliance with the five general requirements of the VGP and twenty-six effluent discharges. It should be noted, however, that this program cannot cover every single element of the VGP and is there for introductory and training purpose only.

The trainees are encouraged to refer to the Final Permit. However, when used together, the training set will make a good contribution to the professional knowledge of those involved in the maritime shipping industry.

This is the ninth edition of the world popular Reference Atlas. In this one the authors have tried to incorporate numerous revisions as well as the very latest updates that affect every single page and every map in the Atlas. The content of the publication reflects all the changes in the geopolitical situation. The Atlas can be used by everyone starting from the children and up to the maritime industry professionals.

People do appreciate the amount of the information included by the editors of the book as well as the style in which the information is presented. The Atlas is remarkably user-friendly and is recommended to use as an excellent reference source. The information presented on the maps in this Atlas is very accurate and clear; every effort has been made to make the content easily accessible.

The very latest technological advances including digital cartography have been applied when developing this publication. A must-have publication for any person interested in geography, maritime world, different countries of the world, covering every single region of the planet and every country. Numerous colorful and detailed images supplement the text part of the volume to make it more interesting.

This is a compact but very informative and useful booklet providing a summary of the main aspects related to the welding certification. It will be useful to the people willing to get the basic knowledge of the subject without going to deep into the theory and relevant procedures. We have been approving the welding procedures through testing and certifying the welders for more than fifty years.

According to the established practice which shall be strictly followed, the testing shall be done prior to commencement of the production and is therefore considered a QA, i.e. Quality Assurance, rather than just a QC, i.e. Quality Control, measure. The material in this booklet is arranged in section sections. The first section is purely introductory while the remaining sections are dealing with the welding certification itself, welding the specimen, testing and certification, and also some info about SAFed.

There are also several appendixes to the main part of the document – here you will find the information about the test certificates including some samples to be used. Though the publication was not developed specifically for the shipbuilding industry, the content will be useful to all people involved in ship building and ship repair.

This publication contains all official reports issued by IPIECA organization on the oil spill incidents. It will be of interest not only to the people directly from the maritime shipping industry but also to the people working in or interested in the field of ecology and environment protections. The publication will provide them with a full overview of the major issues that could be referenced in preparation for the oil spills and in response to them at sea.

The main idea of the compilers of this document was to prepare a summary report that would be used by the people all around the world with the content being equally beneficial to everyone. There are total of seventeen separate oil spill reports included in the volume; in all of them particular emphasis was made on the biological impacts that the spills had. Some of the reports were prepared in close collaboration with the IMO and ITOPF.

The series itself focuses on the major aspects of the preparedness and response and we all shall recognized the utmost importance of being duly concentrated on the spill prevention at all times, knowing the seriousness of the consequences. The compact but informative guidance to oil spill compensation has also been included in the volume.