VIDEOTEL LAUNCHES NEW ISM DESIGNATED PERSON BASIC TRAINING

Videotel, leading supplier of training software, has responded to the evident need for training for designated persons with the launch of its ISM Designated Person Basic Training Course, produced in association with the World Maritime University (WMU). The ISM (International Safety Management) Code provides an international standard for the safe management and operation of ships and for pollution prevention. The Code states:

To ensure the safe operation of each ship and to provide a link between the Company and those on board, every Company, as appropriate, should designate a person or persons ashore having direct access to the highest level of management. The responsibility and authority of the designated person or persons should include monitoring the safety and pollution prevention aspects of the operation of each ship and ensuring that adequate resources and shore-based support are applied, as required.

Videotel Training Services Vice President Captain Milind J Karkhanis, an experienced Designated Person for 8 years, says “The designated person (DP) plays a major part in delivering a shipping company’s safety management system (SMS). It is the DP’s responsibility to create the proper mind set, attitudes and behaviour of a company’s employees working on shore in support of vessel operations. It is also the DP’s responsibility to support and promote a positive attitude to safety and environmental protection by those working on ships. The DP is a key link in the safety chain.”

Roger Jones, WMU Acting President, comments: “Some shipping industry experts think that safety management systems could be flawed because many DPs have not received relevant training in management systems and safety management in particular. The DP simply may not be aware that he or she lacks the correct knowledge until deficiencies come to light, such as after an incident, when the company’s SMS is then properly examined. It is the senior and top management’s responsibility to ensure that a DP is equipped with the necessary competences laid down in the operational guidelines which IMO promulgated in October 2007. This course provides the DP, and indeed anyone aspiring to the role of DP, with a firm grounding in the skills needed for this demanding role.”

Presented as a comprehensive multimedia package, the course is available on CD-ROM and also online through Videotel’s training web portal. Consisting of six modules, the course outlines the main building blocks which define the role of the designated person. The course sets out the legal framework and statutory obligations which establish the responsibilities of the DP; it explains how the DP fits into a safety management system,  providing tools for addressing risk assessment and risk management. It also explores the interaction of legal, commercial and insurance issues on the design and operation of safety management systems, explaining how document management and the audit process are central to successful safety management and how effective communications within the shipping company are vital.

The course requires approximately 25 hours of study and on completion of the final test, Videotel issues a Standard Course Certificate recognised by the World Maritime University.

More on ISM DP Training Course.