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Competition winners promote teamwork:

– TWO ARE BETTER THAN ONE(even if the second one is a donkey)

QualitySafety Newsletter June 2015

QSNEWSTord Brath, Golden Ocean

Focus area:

Communication and commercial pressure| Page 8

Captain Sean LileyNew to Frontline and QualitySafety:

– The proactive approach and passion impresses me| Page 3–4

| Page 6

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Increased reporting often comes with increased focus on safety and quality in the way we work, and will much likely reduce the number of personal injuries.

QualitySafety is improving...

QualitySafety Newsletter June 2015 Editorial

We have focused on QualitySafety for many years because we have achieved good results as a part of the programme. The statistic in our fleet shows less incidents and accidents and more efficient operations. In addition we have improved our reputation, we have less off-hire and better insurance conditions. This is profitable for the owners and keeps us in business.

When it comes to personal injuries, the statistic is also pointing in the right direction. Even though there have been ups and downs, the lost time injury frequency (LTIF, see table) shows that our seafarers have fewer injuries than ten years ago.

For 2014 we had a little more than 0,5 injuries per 1 million hours of work for our tankers and bulk fleet. The average of the industry is 1,08 injuries, which means our seafarers injury frequency is 50 % lower than for other seafarers in the industry.

We have achieved this while the number of near misses and near accidents have increased. That makes sense; Increased reporting often comes with increased focus on safety and quality in the way we work, and will much likely reduce the number of personal injuries.

But we know from experience that our good results from the past do not keep us safe in the operations we do today and tomorrow. Safety is not something we have, it is something we have to create every day. It takes a lot of effort from all of us to maintain our positive trend and improve even more.

We have had an unfortunate nasty incident on one of our VLCC during a tank cleaning operation. Luckily there no personal injuries or casualties.

This shows that we cannot afford to relax when it comes to QualitySafety. The consequences may be severe, and this is not an option. We want everybody to return safely to your families after EVERY contract.

So please keep up the good QS work, work as a team on board and stay safe!

Safe sailing!

Best regards,Capt. Svein OmmundsenFleet Manager Frontline Management AS

2,5

2,0

1,5

1,0

0,5

02005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014

LTIF

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Newcomer Captain Riley instantly impressed by QS: – It seems like the companies

really do care

Totally new to the concept, the young SeaTeam Captain is impressed by the proactive approach to safety and passion for QualitySafety on his new employer.

Captain Sean Riley recently had his first meeting with QualitySafety at a conference in Manila. This happened shortly after being em-ployed by SeaTeam: – The guys at SeaTeam thought the Manila conference would be the perfect introduction for me to the QualitySafety concept before I took command of one of their vessels, as I had not previously worked with either Frontline or Sea Team, he explains.

He had never before seen what he witnessed at the conference.– I must say that I was extremely impressed with how proactive both Frontline and Sea Team are towards QualitySafety. It’s really nice to see just how passionate the people involved with implementing these systems are. This passion was well demonstrated through the amount of effort that was put into the conference in Manila.

Used to a reactive approachLiley was previously employed by a ship management company where he worked on tankers with both BP and Shell. He was sailing

as Master of a medium range sized product tanker and additionally spent time in command of a bunker vessel in Australia. He also has experience ashore in seconded roles such as Vessel Manager, Marine Standards Superintendent and Designated Person Ashore (DPA). – You quite often find that when it comes to quality and safety onboard vessels, a lot of com-panies just take a reactive approach towards incidents or accidents experienced rather than getting out there and really being proactive before a situation occurs. The conference was a great demonstration to both me and other seafarers within the fleet just how serious and passionate about QualitySafety the companies are. It feels like the companies really do care! As a newcomer on board, Captain Liley has especially noticed a posi-tive operational atmosphere among the crew and officers. – Everyone appears to be interacting and working together really well. There is relaxed two-way communication from the senior of-ficers right down through the ranks. All crew seem very at ease with

Continues on the next page »

Capt. Sean Liley on board Front Lion.

InterviewQualitySafety Newsletter June 2015

Captain Sean Riley

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InterviewQualitySafety Newsletter June 2015

Passage Plan briefing with navigational team and C/E. Johnson Tamondong Cadet, Alisrair Alba 2/O, Chinnappa Jayapaul C/E (behind), Venkata Bammidi C/O, Capt. Sean Liley and Dexter Garces 3/O.

approaching and discussing issues within the vessel. It really feels like you’re part of a team, he says.

This is different compared to his experiences on previous vessels. They have tried to head in a similar direction, however the execution and adoption by the crew hasn’t quite been the same.

– It felt like senior officers were trying to force these concepts onto the crew. On board the SeaTeam/Frontline vessel it feels like the QualitySafety concept has been adopted through out the entire ships complement. Everyone is collectively working towards the same QualitySafety goals.

– Real leadership is the keyWhen asked about the key elements for succeeding with QS on board, the Captains says this: – To be honest, I think Frontline and Blå have got the Crew Resource Management model spot on. The six elements culture, operational atmosphere, communication, procedures, stress/workload and sleep/fatigue are exactly the elements you need to control to succeed with QualitySafety. However, in saying this I do believe the senior management on board a vessel ultimately will determine whether

QS succeeds or fails. If the guys in the senior positions, especially the Master, don’t support and promote the implementation of QS, it’s never going to work.

He has already seen that QualitySafety are helpful to him as a Master. – It helps to break down barriers between people of different ranks and culture, and I feel it’s really helped improve the operational atmosphere on board. A Master and an OS can talk together, and there is a much higher chance that small issues on board are reported early. Then we can prevent them from becoming serious accidents and incidents with disastrous consequences.

Ambitions for QSCaptain Liley’s ambitions for QualitySafety on board is to see the crew perform at a high level onboard and then return safely home to their families.– I feel that being passionate about QS really demonstrates to the crew that you care about their well-being onboard. Ultimately, to hear that crew is requesting to come back and return to the Front Lion, that would be a real honor. I feel this can be achieved through Quality Safety.

QS meetings: From knowledge to action

Safety meetingsQualitySafety Newsletter June 2015

How to transfer this into everyday practice:

l Also use the principles for involvement in the safety meetings in arenas like safety morning meetings, toolbox meetings and other formal/informal situations where work is being planned and discussed.

l Involve the crew members in planning processes where their input may be relevant.

l Discuss the work approach and agree on constructive and safe solutions.

l Keywords are respect, involvement and trust.

How to make everybody participate in the safety meetings:

l Let everyone feel they are a part of the team.

l Give assigned tasks to everybody.

l Assign different group leaders each meeting for the group work sessions. If there is rotation, it is easier to involve everybody.

l Ask questions and debate answers in plenary during the meet-ing.

l Welcome the suggestions and opinions of others.

l Encourage all crew members to speak up and share their ideas – and appreciate their effort.

The QS meeting is a very important arena for highlighting the human factors and teamwork. But it does not help to know the remedy if we do not take the medicine when we need it:

IN OUR OPERATIONS AND ACTIVITIES EVERY DAY.

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Golden Ruby Front Queen

Front Ariake’s positive approach towards multicultural teamwork wins the first place and prize money (1500 USD).

Winner: Front Ariake

As always, there are competition entries from a great deal of vessels in the Frontline fleet. Thank you for your effort and contributions. Some of you have answers with contributions from many crew members (or ALL crew members). It is positive to engage the whole crew like this, and the questions in the competition are important to think about. But, please remember the importance of having a united approach to cultural differences on board.

As most of you correctly reflect upon, the MCRM factors operational atmosphere and communication are vital keys to overcome cultural differences. On board there may be great differences among the crew members when it comes to national culture. Having a strong company culture is important to bridge the gap between cultures. Leadership is another crucial ingredient – leaders have a special responsibility for all the factors above.

There are many different ways to get to know our colleagues better and create a good operational atmosphere on board. Your personal effort is essential.

Your competition answers include very concrete actions for success. It has been very hard to select a winner, but Front Ariake’s contribution was very impressive. As a part of their answer, they have also reflected upon which “guidelines” the different nationalities on board have regarding cultural differences and coexistence.

We think all of us can learn from their positive attitude. Being open and positive helps to create a good operational atmosphere. Then we will work better together as a team – despite their differences – and cre- ate safe and efficient operations.

QS CompetitionQualitySafety Newsletter June 2015

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As we have Indian, Filipino, Montenegrins, Chinese and Indonesians on board, we have the following guidelines from our different countries:

Indian: Mahatma Gandhi said “keep the windows open so that cultures from all sides will be blown inside”. This is from the “father of our nation” so we feel we would do well to follow his advising.

Filipino: As religion and family are the main values of their culture, they believe that “love thy neighbour” and “my way” will translate to “accepting everyone’s culture” and “my team on board” in solidarity & understanding.

Montenegrins: They say that “two is better than one, even if the 2nd one is a donkey”, so we work together despite having different cultures.

Chinese: Mao said “let the hundred flowers bloom”, so we don’t count the number of dif-ferent cultures – we work as one culture to be safe and efficient on board the vessel.

Indonesian: We are happy to be part of shipboard team as everyone will try to under-stand our culture.

Today is the hour of globalization – an example would be princess Diana’s death:

An English princess with an Egyptian boyfriend crashes in a French tunnel, driving a German car with a Dutch engine, driven by a Belgium who was drunk on Scottish whiskey: followed closely by Italian paparazzi in Japanese motorcycles; treated by an American doctor, using Brazilian medicines!

In what way(s) can we get to know our colleagues better and create a good atmosphere on board?

l By sharing our ideas, values, tradition & good-will to live and work together on board as a team, which is the family we make at present.

l Having informal meetings as often as possible to feel comfortable to share our concerns, to avoid any individual differences and conflicts – which are sometimes bound to crop up.

l To keep an “open mind” and believe that together as a “team” we can always overcome obstacles which come our way.

l We share our ideas and knowledge at safety meetings, and ensure that a good working atmosphere is maintained.

l When there is a difference of opinion, we gather together and make a concerted attempt to solve the problem, explaining that we all have to face some “rough sailing” in our career at sea, and “success” is in overcoming this and enjoying doing a good job which will benefit everyone.

l When senior officers get a feel that there is some “cultural differences” on board, we discuss this over a cup of coffee and work out the best way to eliminate the misunderstanding(s).

Give a description of how you do this on board your vessel / in your department.

Mushtaq Ahmed has long experience from the sea and as a teacher.

Coach cornerQualitySafety Newsletter June 2015

QS coach corner: Captain Mushtaq Ahmed

How did you become a Quality Safety coach?After teaching at a maritime college for 11 years, I needed a change. My training background matched well with the requirements of the safety coach position. I was elated when V.Ships offered me the posi-tion after getting approval from Frontline. It would also mean that I would be able to use my knowledge of the human behaviour that I learnt at university and also refresh myself with current practices at sea. Since the QS pro-gramme primarily deals with the human element it was a good match for both parties.

What do you think of the Quality Safety pro-gramme?Initially, like many people, I was also a sceptic. But after starting as a safety coach I went back to my management books, and after attending a few seminars I was fully converted and convinced about its effectiveness. I later on realised that I was practising the elements of MCRM as

early as the 1980’s without even knowing about it. It just made more sense to me. QS makes absolute sense. It is proved by scientific research

and has been adopted by almost all industries to a smaller or greater extent. In simple terms it is often referred to as “team building”.

What are

your duties as a coach – how do you work?The routine of a safety coach is very simple. Ob-serve “all” work activities on board and improve the quality safety aspect by improving on the human element (MCRM) factors. The most important thing is to convert all into believ-ers, especially the sceptics. Then also make sure that all the KPI requirements for the particular level for that ship is met.Which Quality Safety level (KPIs) is set for V Ships? (Basic, intermediate or skilled?) The KPI level for tankers is set at Skilled and the KPI level for bulkers is set at

Intermediate. This is because most of the crew on board bulkers are new to Frontline, whereas most

people on tankers have been with Frontline for a long time.

The greatest challenge is to meet all the KPI requirements for each group of vessels as there

are many who are new to the fleet and have not had a chance to attend a QS seminar ashore. Many of them are totally new to the concept.

There is also a turnover of crew, which dilutes the process. However I am hopeful that we will get there sooner or later. There is also the issue of some staff’s lack of fluency in English, which we meet by using other members of crew as translators.

Coach Ahmed’s 5 best tips for Quality Safety implementa-tion on board:

1: Convert all on board and ashore into believers so that they may use their own initiative and implement QS in all activities. Let them see for themselves the benefits of the QS programme.

2: Motivate senior officers to lead by exam-ple. If the seniors follow the QS programme religiously in all activities, the junior staff will automatically follow.

3: Explain to all how easy it is to implement MCRM into daily work activities and reap the benefits of team knowledge and expertise.

4: Explain to the senior staff on board to use shore staff expertise and to consider them as a part of the same team wherever there is any doubt.

5: Help in fostering good relationship and building a cohesive team by being a bridge between shore staff and ships staff.

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Name: Mushtaq AhmedAge: 59Management: V.Ship’sBackground: Master Mari-ner with 16 years’ experience in the merchant navy on various types of vessels including multipurpose, OBO’s, log carri-ers, bulkers etc.14 years in teaching, 3 years at a university in Canada and 11 years in teaching at a maritime college in U.K. with over 1000 chief officers and master trained under my supervision.

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The challenges of communication

Focus areaQualitySafety Newsletter June 2015

Which vessel can make the best quiz?

This time we ask you to challenge your colleagues on other Frontline vessels in a quiz battle. Which vessel can make the best quiz about a safety culture based on Maritime Crew Resource Management?

The requirements for your quiz are:

» Make a quiz containing 10 questions and answers. » The questions and answers should reflect a uniform

safety culture based on MCRM. » The quiz should be entertaining, but in the same time

give a summary of important elements in a healthy and uniform safety culture.

The best quiz will win a prize of 1500 USD to the vessel’s welfare pot. The quiz will also be printed in our next newsletter.Please send your contribution to post@blaa.com before August 31. Good luck with the quiz!

New competition!

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What does the shoreside really expect from the seafarers? How far should the seafarers push themselves to meet the demands from the commercial departments?

Commercial pressure is a natural part of our industry. We neither can nor want to remove commercial pressure from the business, so it should not be seen as something negative. How it is communicated, perceived and dealt with is another matter. The communication between ship and shore is the key. The top officers on board communicate with shoreside staff on a regular basis and deal with commercial pressure every day. What the shoreside says, how it is said and how the sea staff interprets this mes-sage, usually affects how the vessel is run.

Tord Brath is Head of Operations in Golden Ocean Group. He is convinced that a good relationship and good communication between the officers at sea and the shoreside organization is important to avoid incidents and accidents.

Mister Brath has attended 5 QualitySafety seminars in Manila together with represen-tatives from Frontline and Managers. He thinks the seminars are important for both seafarers and shoreside staff.

– The QS seminars are a very useful tool for the commercial staff to be reminded about the human factor and how we are all linked together. The decisions made from shoreside influence the daily life and work of many seafarers and staff of our Technical Managers, says Brath.

The Golden Ocean leader recommends QS seminars for shoreside personnel like technical staff/managers, commercial operators, chartering and management. They could all benefit from attending to develop their understanding of the challenges on board and how the

seafarers interpret the communication from the office. The seminars have also opened Brath’s eyes regarding what the seafarers think and assume about the commercial side of business. In his opinion the greatest challenge is to improve the communication from the shore-side and change the way the seafarers perceive commercial pressure.

– There seems to be a negative perception of commercial pressure, i.e. that the ops staff are pressing the sea staff and managers to make short cuts or deviate from procedures for purely commercial reasons. It is vital for me to emphasize that this is never our attention and will never be. Accidents and breach of procedures are jeopardizing the safety of our seafarers. In addition accidents are very costly with potentially huge commercial consequences and loss of reputation.

– Commercial pressure is always present. We wish to be as efficient and flexible as possible in order to serve our customers best possible but never by jeopardizing safety. It is the seafarers on board who know their situation best. They must assess the risk and make the right decisions in order to operate safely. They need to communicate this with the shoreside. And it is equally important that the seafarers know that the office trust and support their decisions – even if the schedule is affected. They will get our support, but we need them to speak up if there is anything that may affect the level of risk. This is all about communication, says Brath.

In Golden Ocean 80 per cent of the commercial operations staff have nautical background and can relate to the daily challenges on board. Still, they need to focus on improving the communication, and at-tend QS seminars to stay updated. – QS seminars and other officer seminars are important in order to have sound discussions between the shore staff and sea staff and a chance for the shore staff to learn more about the sea staff way of thinking and the other way around. Our and my challenge is to work on the communication with the sea staff to ensure that our messages/communication with ships are interpreted in such a way. Seminars are a very important element to emphasize this directly to our seafar-ers, says Head of Operations in Golden Ocean Group, Tord Brath.

Tord Brath, Head of Operations in Golden Ocean Group

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Best practiceQualitySafety Newsletter June 2015

MV Golden Saguenay loaded from Vysotsk, Russia to Bristol, UK with a total cargo of 72,442 Mt of Russian steam coal in bulk. Voyage 083 L vessel at anchor 5 Nm West from Breaksea LV and waiting for berthing schedule.

At 1445 local time vessel advises Bristol VTS for 15 minutes notice prior heaving up anchor and to confirm pilot boarding time at 1500.

Two pilots came on board to take the vessel inside at Portbury Dock Berth no.6. The vessel to be catch up the high tides 2 hours prior the highest point about 14.2 meters. When transiting the river with a speed of 16.2 knots full manoeuvring speed heading 097 degrees, the two pilots were busy talking. They did not seem to notice that the vessel was running towards the shallow patch at Steep Holm.

Around 1624 Lt , the 2nd mate was on watch as duty officer. He observed that the vessel was in danger of being run aground in a mat-ter of less than 5 minutes. As a bridge team procedure, the 2nd mate told the duty AB Ryan Pabilona (on the wheel) to advise and repeat again the vessel’s heading.

But the pilot said: “We will pass the buoy widely abeam.” For the safety of the vessel, the 2nd mate informs the pilot that the vessel is heading on shallow patch. Finally, the two pilots focused their attention to the fact that the vessel was in danger to run aground.

The pilots checked the heading and the position, and then advised new course to steer for altering in a safe course. The bridge team im-mediately responded to the pilot’s order to avoid running aground.

Afterwards the two pilots appreciated the input from the bridge team. They were thankful for the cooperation during the pilotage operation transiting in the river. After this incident, the vessel safely passed the river, proceeding to berth via at the Lock of Portbury Dock.

This kind of experience will remind the bridge team to act on time even if there are pilots on the bridge. We all need to pay attention towards the safety of the vessel – even when piloting.

Story shared by: 2nd officer William B. Villar II

Sharing best practice: Report from MV Golden Saguenay

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Photo: MarineTraffic.com