PEEL PORTS GROUP. The Port of Liverpool

Transcription

1 PEEL PORTS GROUP The Port of Liverpool Port Marine Safety Code Marine Safety Report 2014

2 Introduction As part of its compliance with the requirements of the Port Marine Safety Code (PMSC), the Mersey Docks and Harbour Company Limited (MDHC) published a Marine Safety Plan for marine operations in the Port of Liverpool for the period This report considers the Port s performance against the planned objectives. 1. Marine Policies In 2014 Peel Ports Group introduced a group wide Marine Safety Management System delivering consistent safety standards throughout the Group s divisions. This document is divided into 2 volumes as follows: The MSMS is a structured set of controls and procedures for managing safety in marine operations, to ensure and to demonstrate that the Peel Ports objectives are met. The objectives of the MSMS are: To provide the principles and structured guidance for managing marine operational risks within the Peel Ports jurisdictional areas; To provide an essential reference for staff in planning and implementing operational safety management, assisting them to carry-out critical activities in a manner which is as safe and protective of the environment as is reasonably practicable; To demonstrate to stakeholders that process controls are in place to ensure that hazards and risks to safety and environment are systematically identified, assessed and controlled and that recovery measures are put in place in case control is lost; To define performance standards for managing marine safety, which are assessed and continually improved by a programme of performance monitoring, audit and review; To ensure operation within a quality management framework. The MSMS is structured in ten sections: Volume 1 (Group wide): Section 1: The MSMS Policy Document describes all elements of the management system. Section 2: MSMS Manual details the documentation and describes the safety critical activities that are involved in managing hazards in Peel Ports. Section 3: Standard System Procedures the set of procedures which describe how the MSMS itself functions. Volume 2 (Port Specific): Section 4: Standard Operational Procedures the set of procedures which describe how a marine operation is conducted. Section 5: Management Planner the programme of objectives and targets for managing the MSMS. Section 6: Registers lists of all documents that are part of the MSMS including dates of issue and review.

3 Section 7: Forms the forms which are required to be completed as part of a procedure or control. Section 8: Records completed forms. Section 9: Training details of the training which is required to be completed by Peel Ports Marine staff. Section 10: Audits internal and external checks on the operation of the MSMS. Volume 1 of the MSMS is published online at within the marine section for the Port of Liverpool. The Mersey Docks and Harbour Company (MDHC) has published a number of marine policies in support of the management and regulation of marine operations in the Port of Liverpool, and the maintenance of the Port s MSMS. Marine policies are approved by the Peel Ports Group Mersey Cluster Port Director, as Duty Holder for the purpose of the PMSC. These are: Corporate Health & Safety Policy Navigational Safety Policy Enforcement and Prosecution Policy Environment Policy Pilotage Policy Training Policy Vessel Traffic Services Policy These policies are reviewed every three years and this was last undertaken in February They are contained within the MSMS Volume 1 Section 1 and also published separately on the Peel Ports Group Website ( 2. Marine Procedures Following the introduction of a Group Harbour Master in 2013, Peel Ports Group underwent a significant restructure of its marine management team. This involved: The creation of a Group Hydrography and Dredging Department to replace local teams; The creation of a Group Marine Services Manage to centrally manage group contracts and service providers; The creation of Port Cluster (Mersey, Clyde & Medway) Senior Manager Marine Operations roles to manage the local delivery of the safety policies set by the Group Harbour Master and respective port Duty Holders. Following this group restructure, the Mersey Cluster (Liverpool, Heysham & Manchester) Marine Management Team underwent a local restructure. This moved the department from an organisation and distribution of responsibility based mainly on geography to one based solely on function.

4 Unrelated to this restructure the previous Deputy and Assistant Harbour Masters left the business and this, together with group level restructure, resulted in the Mersey Marine Management team all being new employees or new to their roles. This has brought challenges in terms of lost knowledge. The move to a policy driven Marine Safety Management System and the structural change from geographical to functional serves to safeguard the management team from future losses of knowledge. Further to this, ongoing analysis of activities and adjustments of management procedures is resulting in significant improvements to the safety management of marine procedures. 3. The Management of Marine Operations Further to the introduction of a Group MSMS and significant restructures of the marine management teams, Peel Ports Group has further improved its management and regulation of marine operations through numerous initiative and ongoing projects. Peel Ports Group have appointed ABPmer as an external Designated Person (DP) who conduct a formal process of three yearly external audit in order to conduct a more formal process amongst numerous other safety assurance exercises. The MSMS and supports MDHC s undertaking to the management and regulation of marine operations, within the scope of its powers and authority, in a way that safeguards the port, users of the Port, including members of the public, and the environment. The Mersey Docks and Harbour Company commits to ensuring that, whenever possible, the Port of Liverpool provides efficient and effective services for the regulation of shipping and other vessels in support of all activities in the harbour; in particular commercial vessel movements, to facilitate the safe and prompt transit of vessels through the port. As a part of this commitment a major project in ongoing to replace and upgrade the VTS equipment within the Port of Liverpool and elsewhere within the Group. Alongside these initiatives, Peel Ports Group commissioned the development of a Port Risk and Incident Management System (PRIMS). This bespoke software links risk assessments, standard operating procedures and incidents into one closed loop. This has resulted in a rapid series of improvements to the way in which risks are assessed and SOPs developed. Alongside this package, and for ultimate inclusion within it, an accident and incident dashboard has been created that seeks to identify trends in the causes and consequences of such events in order to further improve risk mitigation within the Port. 4. Established Management Activities As a part of the three year safety plan, a number of key functions were identified as underpinning the operation and maintenance of the Port s MSMS. These are listed below with comments provided as to the Port s performance against these activities: Monthly Marine Management Team meetings; Following the introduction of the Group MSMS a formal group Marine Management Team meeting has been held monthly. Local Mersey Marine Management Meetings have been held weekly throughout the year with ongoing improvements to the agenda. Safety related topics are covered within all Marine Management Meetings. Dedicated risk assessments of new and existing marine operations and services as required; The introduction of the MSMS and the development of the Port Risk and Incident Management System (PRIMS) has resulted in significant improvements to the risk assessment process within all Mersey Ports.

5 The proactive and reactive review of identified hazards to navigation and the associated risk control measures that mitigate those risks to an acceptable (As Low As Reasonably Practicable) level; The Port of Liverpool held a Hazard Identification (HazID) workshop in December This was facilitated by ABPmer and was attended by a broad spectrum of port users and service providers including pilots, pilot launch coxswains, port control, towage and mooring teams. The output from this event, together with the renewed risk assessments discussed above, feeds into PRIMS and drives the review of Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs). Further to this, alongside PRIMS an incident and accident analysis and tracking tool has been created in order to identify trends and further improve risk controls around the port. The investigation of all reported marine incidents; All reported marine incidents are recorded within PRIMS. As a part of this, every reported incident is investigated by management with the scale and depth of the investigation being appropriate to the specifics of the incident. Regular, wide-ranging liaison with Port Users, practitioners and other interested parties through formal and informal public consultations; A series of meetings are held to liaise with port users and service providers including pilots. Public consultations have been held for Pilotage and Towage Directions. External meetings are attended where appropriate including those held by the Merchant Navy Welfare Board, MCA and other relevant organisations. Long-established and effective Pilotage Meetings comprising marine management and authorised Liverpool pilots; Pilot laison meetings have undergone a significant improvement over the previous twelve months. A standing programme of meetings has been created in order to maximize the attendance. Regular internal and external audits and reviews of the MSMS, its functions and procedures; The Mersey Ports were audited internally between November and December against the MSMS covering the Legal Background, Duties of The Duty Holder, PMSC Compliance, Marine Safety Policies, Key marine Roles, Port Community Consultation, Management of Navigation and Conservancy. The planned quarterly audit programme had not been possible owing to the mass change of personnel so all audits were combined into one. There were three non conformities affecting all three ports and none singularly applying to Liverpool. These covered the distribution of safety minutes and the consultation process for formal safety assessments. All three have been resolved. There were 18 further opportunities for improvement applicable to all three ports and 15 applicable to Liverpool alone, giving a total of 33. These have been fed into the respective enhancement plans and shall be closed off during No external audits were conducted on the MSMS owing to the change in Designated Person. Formal audits have been arranged for 2015 with preliminary gap analysis work currently ongoing.

6 Comprehensive training and development for marine departments staff; Marine staff underwent a significant training programme in 2014 however this was not as originally planned owing to the total change in management staff within the Port of Liverpool s Marine Department. Training focused on Oil Spill Response, the PMSC, Managing Safely, Environmental Legislation and other core topics. A detailed training plan is currently being developed across the Group and this shall take effect during The maintenance and exercising of MDHC marine emergency plans and procedures, including oil spill management and business continuity plans. The Port of Liverpool Oil Spill Plan was totally rewritten in 2014 and passed to the MCA for approval. The MCA granted an extension of the existing plans whilst considering the new plans. Part of this involved an increase in local Tier 1 capability. As such, the new plan has not yet been signed off and owing to this has not been exercised. The existing plan was exercised during the fist half of the year and a new exercise shall be conducted following the sign off of the new plan, expected in early 2015.

7 5. Ongoing Management Targets for the Period of the Plan Standing Targets: No major incidents, serious injuries or serious There have been no major incidents, serious pollution as a result of a failure of the port s 1. Navigational Incidents injuries or serious pollution within the Port of Marine Safety Management System and/or of Liverpool as a result of this. associated MDHC safety service provision Vessel Traffic Services Operational capability and delivery 1. Provide an effective Vessel Traffic Service (VTS) throughout the port. 2. Seek to ensure that the MDHC VTS system operates at 99.9% availability through a maintenance, procurement and installation strategy for VTS equipment, which will add to the reliability of individual elements of the VTS system or to its duplication. 1. Effective VTS has been provided within the Port of Liverpool throughout The Liverpool VTS system has operated without interruption throughout The reliability of individual systems has reduced recently but service has been maintained through the use of supporting systems. A tender process is ongoing for the entire replacement of all Liverpool VTS equipment during Provision of a Pilotage service including the authorisation of Pilotage Exemptions No major incidents resulting from Pilotage errors. There were no serious marine casualties during of the 46 reported marine incidents involved vessels carrying a pilot but this is considered to be indicative of more reliable reporting from such vessels. Reporting of incidents involving on piloted vessels is an area targeted for future improvement. Ensure that the Port and approaches have an The Group Hydrography and Dredging adequate schedule of hydrographic surveys and Department conducted 91 surveys within the Port Conservancy and Hydrographic that these are undertaken in line with the defined of Liverpool during Survey schedule and that the results are published within the target timescales.

8 Specifically: Navigation Safety Surveys Significant data to be promulgated within 24 hours; and Surveys to be completed within 3 days (or 5% of period) of target. Conservancy Surveys No surveys to be outstanding (significantly overdue) beyond 10% of the period beyond the due date. Surveys to be published within 8 weeks of the survey being undertaken. These were all completed on time and all important information was promulgated within 24 hours with an average time to distribute the finalised charts of 2.66 days. Further to this, 2 conservancy surveys were undertaken covering Pluckington Bank and Jordans Spit. These were completed as per the planned timetable and were published as per the data for navigational surveys. Wreck & Obstruction Investigation - Investigate all reported wreck and obstruction on immediate mobilisation. Issue navigation warnings, arrange marking and removal at earliest opportunity, time dependant on severity / risk to navigation. There were no reported wrecks or obstructions during Support for, approval and facilitation of River events (event permits) Associated risks to be at ALARP prior to approval. Avoid unnecessary restrictions on vessel movements and disruption to commercial services and leisure activities The Event Permit system continued to work well. The highest profile event of 2014 was the Giants. Full risk assessments were provided for all authorised events and were reviewed my the marine department to ensure that any associate risks were controlled sufficiently to be considered ALARP. Planning for the 2015 Three Queens event began in early Routine meetings every 6 months with Port users. A new meeting framework was initiated in 2014 Liaison and consultation with River Appropriate and open consultation undertaken with meetings being divided into pilot liaison, Users with River Users and interested parties regarding service providers and users. User meetings were proposed amendments to MDHC Byelaws, held in January and July. Numerous

9 Period Targets: Directions and Codes of Practice. consultations were undertaken including Pilotage Directions, Towage Directions and specific targeted meetings for forthcoming marine projects. 1. Risk assessment Introduction of electronic marine risk management system The Port Risk & Incident Management System (PRIMS) was released and has been subject to further development during the year. This system includes all PMSC risk assessments, SOPs and incident reports. 2. Training 1. Three Marine Managers to complete Diploma in Port Management 2. Pilot launch Coxswains to be up skilled to RYA offshore qualifications. 2. All Marine Managers to pass IOSH Managing Safely in Ports The total change of marine management resulted in a change in training requirements. Training was focused on IOSH Managing Safely in Ports, Oil Spill Response (5P), environmental, PMSC and similar courses. As such: 1. No Marine Managers undertook any study towards a Diploma in Port Management. 2. Alongside the change in marine management there have been significant manning issues within the Pilot Launch Coxswain section. These have been resolved with the employment of several new Coxswains and the development of a new rota system beginning at the start of January As such, training has focused on the core requirements rather than meeting this target. 3. All Marine Managers have passed IOSH Managing Safely. 3. Legislation Review of Port of Liverpool s Byelaws This process has been initiated and is ongoing. It is being led by the Group Harbour Master.

10 4. Vessel Traffic Services Operational capability and delivery Upgrade VTS to Traffic Organisation System This project continued to gain momentum during 2014 with a tender process initiated for a group wide VTS equipment upgrade with the intention of moving to TOS at the end of Develop and introduce a registration system for Ongoing. 5. Fishing & Leisure commercial fishing vessels operating and leisure vessels moored within the River Mersey and approaches. Develop and introduce a survey standard for Ongoing 6. MCA Coded Vessel commercial vessels solely operating within the River Mersey

11 6. Incident and Accident Data The Port of Liverpool Safety Key Performance Target (KPT) is 3 or fewer serious or very serious marine casualties against a forecasted 16,000 commercial shipping moves. This is set within Volume 1 of the Group MSMS. In 2014 there were 15,724 commercial movements and no serious or very serious marine casualties. The Port of Liverpool therefore met this target as is demonstrated in the following extract from the group Marine Accident and Incident Tracker Dashboard: Alongside this KPT is a Key Performance Indicator tracking the number of marine casualties and near misses per 1,000 vessel movements. This tracking system was introduced during 2014 so does not include a comparison with previous years performance. Looking more deeply into these statistics shows that shipping movements peaked in May, built again for pre Christmas cargo movement before dropping significantly into December. December also shows the greatest number of marine casualties per 1,000 movements with 7 against 1,018 movements. A significant factor in this is likely to be the high winds experienced, however with appropriate mitigations in place high winds should not necessarily mean a greater number of incidents and accidents.

12 The following table shows the total number of marine casualties and near misses against whether the vessel in question was piloted, transiting under the command of a Pilotage Exemption Certificate (PEC) Holder or not subject to pilotage. The chart shows that 42 vessels were piloted, 1 was under PEC and 2 were non pilotage. The overwhelming factor here is considered to be reporting. As there were no serious or very serious marine casualties during 2014, many of the incidents or near misses reported by pilots were of a minor nature. Encouraging all port users to report all incidents or near misses, regardless of how insignificant they may seem, is a constant challenge. MDHC is currently considering numerous options to improve this information flow. During 2014 over half of the reported incidents involved vessels making contact with fixed objects and resulted in damage to the vessel with the remainder being damage to infrastructure or other objects. The second most common incident type was the failure of machinery on board vessels. The 66% of reported marine incidents were attributed to either a lack of appropriate passage planning or a lack of skill level. This is to say that the pilot or master of the vessels in question failed to adequately plan for the movement or failed to properly consider the conditions in the case of a vessel that is carried by the wind. As is the case for all of the data presented here, this analysis tool was introduced during 2014 so long term racking is not yet possible will see a further increase in data set and allow a more detailed analysis and resultant safety improvements.

13 7. Conclusions During 2014, the entire Peel Ports Group Marine operation has undergone significant change. This has included the introduction of a Group MSMS, the PRIMS system, ABPmer as DP and a total change of Mersey Marine Management personnel. As such, the year proved extremely challenging and some specific safety plans and targets were unavoidably missed. It is however extremely clear that the overall improvement in the management of marine safety has been significant within the Port of Liverpool and throughout the Peel Ports Group. The major shift to centralisation of management control and consistency of approach has enabled all ports to work closer together and share best practice. The restructuring of the Mersey Cluster of Ports (Liverpool, Heysham and Manchester) marine management from geographic to entirely functional has enabled improved information flow and knowledge sharing, again fostering a consistent approach to safety management. The introduction and ongoing development of the Group MSMS and supporting PRIMS package has provided a framework within which the benefits of the other changes above can be formalised and then independently verified by the external DP. The new people, structures, policies and systems have resulted in significant improvements to the management of marine safety within the Port of Liverpool. Further improvements will be delivered during 2015 as the new management team and processes settle in further and with the delivery of major projects such as the full replacement of VTS equipment.