Training Initiatives for Classification Society Personnel

Abstract

The ship classification society is an institution unique to the commercial maritime industry. For a single vessel the classification society may act on behalf of a number of client organizations: owner, shipyard, underwriters, furnishers of capital, flag state, port state, etc. The interests of these various groups require a professional staff totally familiar with the uses and practices of the industry, codes and laws of vessels trading nationally and internationally, flag and port state regulations and, of course, the engineering disciplines and practical skills associated with the design, construction, maintenance and operation of vessels. In the not too distant past it was possible to acquire experienced professional staff requiring little additional training. With the shrinking U.S. flag fleet, this pool of professionals has largely disappeared in this country. Today's professional staff of engineers and field surveyors is drawn largely from recent graduates of the maritime academies and colleges of engineering. Although well prepared, these personnel do require extensive on-the-job and classroom training to meet the objectives of the American Bureau of Shipping. In addition to our internal objectives, the quality assurance constraints of the European Community and others place a special emphasis on documented training. This paper discusses some of the problems encountered in delivering training for a multinational, multicultural, and multilingual organization, and the initiatives being undertaken to provide the necessary skills and to ensure reasonable and consistent interpretation and application of codes and standards and professional execution of assigned tasks. In order to realize these objectives, a training program must be aggressive and pro-active and look into the future to anticipate the requirements of developing technologies and it must do this within severely defined budgetary and manpower constraints.