Oil Companies International Marine Forum

What is TMSA?OCIMF’s Tanker Management and Self Assessment programme was introduced in 2004 as a tool to help vessel operators assess, measure and improve their safety management systems. It complements industry quality codes and is intended to encourage self-regulation and promote continuous improvement among tanker operators.

While International Conventions like SOLAS (Safety of Life at Sea) and the International Safety Management (ISM) code are in place to enhance the safety of merchant shipping and achieve incident-free operations, effective implementation of these regulations is dependent upon the ship operator establishing an effective safety management system. The TMSA programme can help all vessel operators to improve their safety management systems.

The programme encourages vessel operators to assess their own safety management system against listed key performance indicators and provides best practice guidance on how to attain appropriate standards of safety performance. Vessel operators are encouraged to use their assessment results to develop phased improvement plans that can be applied, as appropriate, across their entire fleet and to share TMSA’s with potential charterers via the TMSA database.

As a tool for driving up safety standards, the TMSA has rapidly gained international credibility and acceptance and today, some 90% of operators use the programme, including all the oil majors.

How does it work?The TMSA programme offers a standard framework for assessment of a vessel operator’s safety management systems. The framework is based on 12 elements of management practice, each one associated with a clear objective and a set of supporting KPIs to help operators assess the level of attainment in their company. The 12 elements are:

1 Management, leadership and accountability.

2 Recruitment and management of shore-based personnel.

3 Recruitment and management of vessel personnel.

4 Reliability and maintenance standards. 5 Navigational safety. 6 Cargo, ballast and mooring operations. 7 Management of change. 8 Incident investigation analysis. 9 Safety management. 10 Environmental management. 11 Emergency preparedness and

contingency planning. 12 Measurement, analysis and

improvement.

Tanker Management and Self Assessment (TMSA)

A voice for safety

Benefits of TMSAThe benefits of the TMSA to vessel operators are clear:

• Helps to drive up the standards of safety management systems, leading to fewer incidents.

• Encourages a continuous improvement approach to safety management.

• Embeds a preventative approach to maintenance, reducing unplanned stoppages and delays for repairs.

• The reduced the risk of incidents and delays/breakdowns feeds back over time into higher performance in terms of safety and environmental protection and enhances the reputation of the company.

• Companies that incorporate the TMSA guidelines into their management systems are considered to have an active assessment process, even if not being inspected under SIRE or having adopted ISM.

• Reduced risk of incidents feeds back over time into lower insurance costs and higher earnings.

• The process is not imposed upon vessel operators from outside. It is owned and managed by the operators themselves and the resulting data remains fully under their control.

Looking aheadRecent years have seen the scope of the TMSA expanded to encompass all tank vessel operators, including those managing coastal vessels and barges. The second edition of the best-practice guide was published in 2008 and further updates are expected in the coming years to take account of changing international legislation and developing best practice.

For more information, visit www.ocimf.com or email enquiries@ocimf.com

In each category, the TMSA provides guidelines on the activities, grouped into four stages, that should be undertaken to meet the objective – the higher the stage, the closer to fully meeting the objective. Vessel operators are encouraged to work through the 12 elements to produce as accurate and substantive an assessment as possible. This can then be used to conduct a gap analysis to identify which elements and stages have yet to be attained and how best to develop a performance improvement programme.

Vessel operators conduct and can regularly review their TMSA assessments on line at www.ocimf-tmsa.com. User names and passwords to access this database-driven website are issued by OCIMF for a nominal software licence fee. TMSA assessments are not published openly and responsibility for the distribution of data contained in individual assessments lies exclusively with the vessel operator.

Operators are encouraged to regularly review and update their TMSA, at least annually, in the interests of continuous improvement.

Tanker Management and Self Assessment (TMSA)

Oil Companies International Marine Forum, 29 Queen Anne’s Gate, London SW1H 9BU, United KingdomT +44 (0) 20 7654 1200 F +44 (0) 20 7654 1205 enquiries@ocimf.com www.ocimf.com

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TMSA Geographical distribution of subscribers