The MTCS team are very much looking forward to this year’s Ocean Business exhibition and training forum at the National Oceanography Centre, Southampton in mid-April, and a few of us will be heading to the South Coast for the event.
As with previous years the programme of talks and demonstrations looks impressive to say the least, and we’re excited at the prospect of seeing the next generation surveying innovations and latest autonomous marine systems (ROV, AUV, ROUV and USV). If you’re involved in the sector, we suggest it’s well worth a visit.
Looking through the Training and Demonstration Programme, the title of one session caught our eye and re-kindled a debate that we continue to hear regarding the place of traditional practices in the maritime industries and, from our perspective, whether time-served activities can also be classified as competent.
Over recent years we have looked at the definition of competence in previous articles and continue to use the following as our benchmark – competence is “the ability to perform a task safely, efficiently, and in accordance with company/industry guidelines and procedures”.
The problem with the word ‘traditional’ is the ambiguity that invariably accompanies it.
Traditional is usually accompanied by the ubiquitous “…but that’s how it’s always been done”, to be rather worryingly followed by “…it’s usually fine, nothing bad has happened.”
If you find yourself appending this statement to read “nothing bad has happened yet” then you’re already one step ahead.
Traditional practices often come packaged with words such as experienced, knowledgeable and trusted, but all of which are fundamentally intangible and none of which demonstrate that the highly specialised, safety critical activities undertaken by personnel working in the diverse marine, subsea and energy sectors are being done in a competent manner.
There are also cultural and organisational factors at play when it comes to traditions, and there are countless instances where operational practices that are deemed acceptable in one geographical region are out of the question and completely forbidden in another.
Skills assessment and competence certification as the benchmark.
MTCS was established with independent competence certification as our core service in response to the demand from the global maritime industries for approved processes and procedures, by which their personnel could be independently assessed and verified.
In the 20 years or so since MTCS was founded, we have seen enormous advances in the incredible technologies being deployed by hydrographic survey and exploration teams, maintenance personnel, and the myriad of new roles in these industries.
There are entirely new generations working in the maritime sectors, either employed directly or freelance contractors, and our belief remains that globally recognised, independent competence certification is the best way for an employer to determine the suitability of someone to undertake a task safely and efficiently.
Does this mean that tradition no longer has a place?
Most definitely not, as traditional ways of working have invariably been the foundation for establishing current best practice in High Voltage and High Pressure Hydraulic activities.
But our position will always be that to be certified as competent within one’s role then a person must be able to prove (including being assessed by an approved Skills Assessor) of that “ability to perform a task safely, efficiently, and in accordance with company/industry guidelines and procedures”.
We could append this statement ourselves with, “consistently and repeatedly”, as being trained and qualified to do something correctly once, twice or a handful of times still does not demonstrate ongoing competence.
The fundamental operating principles will remain and one may argue that this is the place of ‘tradition’ in the procedures and practices of the future but we will always be clear that competence is the application of proven and approved processes; consistently, safely and as an ongoing commitment from personnel and employers alike.
Back to Ocean Business and a look at the companies demonstrating the incredible, innovative equipment that is already deployed and operational (or will soon be) around the world, and the word ‘traditional’ feels a very long way removed from the newest marine autonomous systems on show.
Here at MTCS, we too need to keep abreast of the advances being made in remotely operated and autonomous equipment as there will invariably be new practices introduced that will have a bearing on our competence programmes.
If you’d like to catch up with us at Ocean Business, please drop us a line at enquiries@mtcs.info and hopefully we can arrange to meet with you.