Published 18 February 2015
Offshore renewable energy is playing an ever-increasing role in the working schedules of many members of the International Marine Contractors Association (IMCA) so this year IMCA has put together a pavilion at EWEA OFFSHORE in Copenhagen, the world’s largest offshore wind energy event. The pavilion will feature IMCA members as well as the guidance and safety materials published by the association to further safe and efficient marine operations. Additionally IMCA is holding a Common Marine Inspection Document (CMID) Seminar of interest to all owners and operators of marine contracting vessels.
Pommec, Wind and Water, Offshore Wind Services/Workships and the Energy Institute / G9 will be exhibiting on the IMCA pavilion (C1 A14) 10-12 March at the Bella Centre in Copenhagen. The exhibition will feature over 400 other exhibitors working in the rapidly expanding offshore wind market; and provide IMCA and its members with superb networking facilities.
Relevant IMCA guidance
Effective sharing of marine construction experience, safe methods of working and recommended practice for offshore installations are vital for offshore renewables (offshore wind, and wave and tidal) projects anywhere in the world. IMCA documents, safety cards and DVDs of particular relevance include, but are not limited to, the following:
“These documents and safety materials have been designed and agreed by the global marine contracting industry to move forward the twin goals of ‘zero incidents’ and efficient and effective risk free operations,” explains IMCA’s Chief Executive, Chris Charman.”Our guidelines can be downloaded free of charge from our website by members and non-members alike; and our DVDs can be watched online. Transfer of such guidance from the oil and gas industry to the offshore renewables sectors is designed to produce the same results, meaning no ‘reinvention of the guidance wheel’ is required. We were pleased to work with G9 and the Energy Institute on their recently published ‘The safe management of small service vessels used in the offshore wind industry’.
“We’re not stopping there though, far from it. Our renewable energy workgroup, chaired by Alan MacLeay of Seaway Heavy Lifting, has a very active work programme, which includes the competence framework for the crew of small workboats, which will be published shortly; and a workboat crew personal logbook which will be released to coincide with the competence framework.
“The workgroup is also working with our ROV and Diving committees on high level guidance on the design and risk management approaches to diving and ROVs for offshore renewables developers; and we will also be working with RenewableUK on a new guidance document for the role of the Marine Warranty Surveyor.”
The IMCA CMID (Common Marine Inspection Document) Seminar will take place on Tuesday 10 March from 13:00-17:00 in Meeting Room 178, at the Bella Sky Hotel alongside the exhibition hall, and is free to attend. IMCA’s CMID aims to reduce the number of inspections carried out on individual marine vessels by providing a common standard.
“IMCA’s CMID version 9 will be rolled out in the spring/summer of this year, and the changes to it are significant and extensive,” says Chris Charman.”We will be providing those who attend the seminar with a ‘sneak preview’ explaining the effect of these changes on vessel inspections.”
The accreditation process for CMID vessel inspectors, to be known as accredited vessel inspectors (AVIs) will also be explained. This initiative is being collaboratively delivered by IMCA and the International Institute of Marine Surveying (IIMS) and will radically alter the vessel inspection expectations of all stakeholders as the AVI badge becomes the ‘must have’ symbol of quality CMID reports.
Further information on, and registration for, the free IMCA CMID Seminar is on the IMCA website at http://bit.ly/1vbyIUB and available from [email protected] Tel: +44 (0)20 7824 5520.
Further information on IMCA and its work on behalf of its 1000+ member companies in over 60 countries is available from www.imca-int.com and [email protected]. The association has LinkedIn and Facebook groups and its Twitter handle is @IMCAint