IMCA's origins can be traced back to 1972, in order to address the hazards and mitigate the severity and amount of accidents happening as a result of deep diving to support oil and gas development in the UK North Sea.
IMCA's Resolute Mission to Enable Safety and Sustainability in the Marine Contracting Industry

IMCA's Resolute Mission to Enable Safety and Sustainability in the Marine Contracting Industry

Head of Energy Transition, International Marine Contractors Association (IMCA) Iain Grainger
By Xin-En Wu
"I joined the offshore marine contracting industry nearly 40 years ago. I was a graduate engineer then, and in Scotland, the biggest industry was oil and gas, which was an exciting industry to join. I started in offshore marine construction and it's pretty much been my career for the last 40 years working for large international marine contracting companies." says Iain Grainger, the current Head of Energy Transition, International Marine Contractors Association (IMCA).
IMCA's origins can be traced back to 1972, in order to address the hazards and mitigate the severity and amount of accidents happening as a result of deep diving to support oil and gas development in the UK North Sea.
In the 70s, deep sea oil and gas was still an emerging industry. "We were working in deeper and in harsher waters than diving had ever been, so there were many accidents. The industry came together to solve the problem. There were few regulations, so the industry recognized we had to become safe and ensure the safety and well-being of our personnel; we couldn't allow divers to become injured or have to risk their lives. The diving contractors came together and formed the Association of Offshore Diving Contractors (AODC) in 1972, developing best practice guidelines and proactive solutions aiming to solve problems," explained Grainger.
In the eighties, dynamically positioned vessels (DP vessels) began to emerge and as more companies increased the deployment of DP vessels in the North Sea, the offshore industry found itself in virgin territory once again, without regulations or guidelines and with its operational teams at risk. Another association called the Dynamically Positioned Vessel Owners Association (DPVOA) was founded. In 1992, with both associations having the same core values regarding safe offshore working operations, AODC and DPVOA decided to merge to form IMCA.
"We (IMCA) started at that time (in the early nineties) with around 100 members. Today we have over 700 member companies, with about 25% of our members here in Asia. Jason Veerasingam, is the regional representative for the APAC region and he looks after the 180 or so members here in the region." expresses Grainger.
By the Industry For the Industry
Over the course of 25 years, IMCA has significantly expanded in both scope and scale to encompass a broader range of disciplines, all while staying true to their core value of safety. "We now cover all activities of offshore marine construction, including lifting (both at great heights and underwater), ROVs, Autonomous surface and underwater vessels , Survey, Legal Contracts & Insurance, Environmental Sustainability, Digitalisation, Marine Policy and Regulation," said Grainger.
IMCA has a total of 20 committees with about 40 work groups, supported by around 600 volunteers. All members volunteer to join the committee, and each these committees and workgroups develop best practice guidelines based on both experience and insights. It is also the core value of IMCA: by the industry, for the industry. "Our documents and guidelines are developed by the industry. They're not developed by academics or consultants. They're developed by people who are actually doing the work." Grainger proudly explains. "We also have dedicated full time technical advisors (TA's) who are specialists in all of our disciplines. These TA's support the committees in delivery as well as supporting our members navigate IMCA's significant library of guidelines and standards. Over our 50 years, IMCA now have over 200 guidelines and occupational standards which are industry best practices, and our members use those documents to do their work safely."
The Essence of Sharing: Distinguish, Determine & Disclose
IMCA's first and foremost priority is the betterment of all marine construction activities and the enhancement of performance in all aspects, and safety is the most critical step in order to achieve IMCA's vision for the global marine construction industry.
Given the technology and innovations accelerating the rate at which the industry is evolving will always require trained professionals to operate, and operating procedures will need be constantly updated. "One difference between oil and gas and offshore wind is the number of people being transferred from vessels to facilities and we identified a need for new guidelines to ensure this is carried out safely. Our Marine Renewables Committee have already delivered a number of new guidelines and standards to address this. Just in the last year alone, we've captured safety records from 550 million working hours and this is a crucial factor of our guidelines. Every year IMCA collects all the safety statistics from our 700 members and analyses it to identify trends," Grainger explains.
All accidents records collected during these 550 million working hours are properly documented, known in the industry as Lost Time Incidents (LTI). Lost time incidents are accidents that occur when a worker sustains an injury that results in time off from work, or loss of productive work (absenteeism or delays). “Every time a person can't go back to work for their next shift, it's classified as an LTI and our members record that. We then anonymize and analyze that data so we can identify what are the highest risks and potential threats, where are the incidents coming from, and how are they happening,” says Grainger.
In 2021, over 50% of all incidents came from what industry call 'line of fire', meaning that something was moving and personnel was caught in the trajectory of the moving object.
"Line of fire can include crane load movements, fork lifts, hydraulic equipment, pressure releases and even scalding incidents in a kitchen. People need to be aware of the potential of any potential moving objects and stay clear of the potential path." Grainger further indicated. "Its also important that colleagues look out for each other and warn those who may be in the way. Today's culture is that anyone should be able to stop the work if they feel the operation is unsafe."
Every year, IMCA scrutinizes the immense amount of data that pours in from all of its members and announce them publicly. "If we find a common thread of incidents, we then put that back to our 600 volunteers and say, ‘What are we going to do about it? We may have to update on of our exiting guidelines or develop a new one. We also issue support material to help the industry stop this type of incident, such as posters, videos and safety cards that people can use to communicate with their staff and subcontractors," says Grainger.
Beside the statistics and data analysis of incidents, another unique mechanism of IMCA is 'sharing immediately'. Grainger thinks that the biggest change he's seen develop over the last 20 years is the culture in the industry of people being prepared to share incidents. "If something happens, don't hide it. Tell the world about it, because if it happened to you, it could happen to someone else. The big message is about sharing as quickly as possible and having a no-blame culture. The first and foremost message is to record the incident and share it. Even if it was only a near-miss and didn’t result in an actual accident.
Grainger indicated that when incidents or near misses happen, the leadership of the vessel or worksite should immediately stop the work and discuss with the team what just happened and the actual or potential consequences.
With huge volumes of data traveling back over our 50 years allowing IMCA to identify which types of incidents are happening most often and how much they've decreased or how well the situation’s improved year over year.
"If a new type of incident is rising, we can make the industry aware of it as well. Every ten days we publish a safety flash bulletin which will give you five or six incidents that happened over the last ten days. If you're a member, for example, you can send a brief description of the incident and some pictures and send them to us, and we will prepare a safety flash. If you don't want your company or vessel to named, it can remain anonymous. Everywhere I go people tell me how valuable IMCA safety flashes are and how they use them to inform their teams of the potential for a similar incident on their vessel or worksite. I often see them posted on noticeboard," says Grainger.
Longevity: Safety, coupled with Sustainability.
IMCA's mission is broader than just safety. A new area being discussed widely is sustainability.
IMCA has over 700 members which equates to thousands of vessels and almost all of the vessels are fossil fuel-powered vessels. "We are working with our members to help them understand how they can improve their environmental sustainability. We started by encouraging the segregation of waste on the vessels. In the old days, we used to have one big container for all the waste. Today, vessels try to segregate materials to support the potential for recycling. Last year we issued an 'Environmental Sustainability Code of Practice' which we hope all of our members will adopt. This includes an assessment that companies can perform to identify the areas of opportunity for improvement," explains Grainger.
Grainger indicated that the next phase of sustainability is all about improving the carbon footprint of marine operations. To encourage people to start thinking about how to use less fuel and what alternative fuels are available. "A number of vessels are already dual fueled to include the option to use LNG which is cleaner than traditional marine duel oils. Some vessels are already 'methanol ready' and ammonia is also being discussed as the next evolution in marine fuels. Some of our members already have hybrid powered vessels using battery storage systems. Many of those that are adopting this technology are quoting saving in the order of 10% of their fuel consumption by having the energy storage system on their fleets," Grainger mentions.
Grainger explains the increasing global awareness and cognizance of issues surrounding sustainability. "IMCA is one of the few associations that has a seat at the International Maritime Organization (IMO), and the IMO looks to us to facilitate improvement in the sustainability of our member's vessels. IMCA is not a for-profit organization and all of our profits are plowed back into our mission."
Inclusivity and Solidarity
"Taiwan has never had a heavy offshore construction industry in oil and gas, so essentially you are starting from a relatively early stage. However, what we've seen over the last few years is that most international developers and vessel owning companies have come here, bringing their vessels and their level of expertise, and they’re partnering up with domestic companies," says Grainger.
For example, Dredging Environmental and Marine Engineering (DEME) formed a joint venture here with China Shipbuilding Corporation (CSBC), creating CSBC-DEME Wind Engineering Co. Ltd (CDWE) and they're building the first offshore wind farm installation vessel, Green Jade. "This is fantastic and I think it’s crucial to embrace international experience. IMCA contractor members like Seaway 7, DEME, Boskalis, and Van Oord. They are bringing best practices with them from Europe” expresses Grainger as he shares his thoughts about the development and outlook of the marine industry in Taiwan.
According to Grainger, the successful development of Taiwan's heavy industry lies in Taiwan's capacity to accept and adopt international expertise, not to push back or be adverse to the history, experience, and insights of countries and companies that have been doing this type of work for decades. This way, industrialization, integration and implementation can happen as practically and as quickly as feasible, all while maintaining the level of safety that should always take center stage in the course of development. "Taiwan faces fierce competition for scare expertise and assets from Europe, the USA, and even South America. Countries are all vying to develop their own capabilities and have set big goals and milestones for themselves. Japan, South Korea, Australia, the Philippines, and also India are competing for the same vessels, and most certainly the same developers and international contractors. Taiwan has to encourage those developers and contractors to invest in Taiwan and avoid any unnecessary barriers." emphasizes Grainger.
Mindfulness and Discretion with Localization
From the immense amount of experience IMCA has accumulated over the years of supporting developing industries throughout their infancy stages, international standards and protocols have been tried, tested and validated to become the best practice models available to entire countries and offshore marine industries.
"Perhaps, translation or modifications to accommodate the local market is needed, but those more than 200 best practice guidelines serve as a foundational baseline for all stakeholders and personnel. Another one of our key strengths is we have a vessel assurance system. We call it the eCMID (Electronic Common Marine Inspection Document) and it's the industry standard for vessel health checks, a bit like an annual medical for a vessel where all health checks are captured in the eCMID database," said Grainger.
There are already a number of Taiwanese flagged vessels registered in the database, and whenever a client has a procurement need for a vessel, they can rest assured that our system will provide them with an updated and accurate snapshot of a vessel's status. There are also accredited vessel inspectors (AVI) in Taiwan who can perform eCMID inspections. These are easily identified on the dedicated eCMID website.
Grainger mentioned that IMCA also have training and competency assessment systems in place. With an library of competency assessments, personnel that aspire to delve deeper and enhance their professionalism as a diverse dynamic positioning officers (DP2, DP3 etc), ROV pilots and supervisors, diving supervisors, and AVI (accredited vessel inspector), IMCA's database supplies holistic competency requirements, allowing individuals as well as business entities to have a clear benchmark and an opportunity to clearly understand what is required. It provides clarity into what one is lacking, along with clear guidelines to what one needs, whether it be training or experience. IMCA has also just launched a new category of membership for diving and ROV training schools to improve the safety and quality of training being provided in these areas.
Grainger explains that considering IMCA is the bridge, enabling and empowering communications throughout the industry. "It's kind of a misnomer that you can get certified or qualified with us. IMCA doesn't issue the licenses, however we have a vast network of not only developers and suppliers, but also institutions and federation members we could easily connect and facilitate the support one needs for licensing. For example, if qualified divers are needed, we could arrange for an accredited diving federation to come and audit the training and see what's the gap. Then, they could provide a clear roadmap for how to close the gap."
There will be gaps between local diving qualifications and the international one, however, it is a good opportunity and can easily be mapped. When closing the gap, one can understand the approach which has been taken to reach international standards, and so the Taiwanese divers and vessels can work in other countries as well.
Grainger specifically emphasizes that the challenge of the offshore wind industry's sustainable development are 3 pillars: competitiveness against other forms of energy reasonableness of timelines and time frames, and feasibility of localization requirements and regulations. If pushing those three too far at the same time, the Taiwanese Offshore wind industry will not be sustainable.
"One of the results of the Ukraine-Russian crisis is that global commodity prices are high. So we've got a boom in the wind and oil and gas sectors simultaneously, and that means that the supply chain will go to work for the sector with better margins and lower risk. That's a concern for the offshore wind industry because contractors and suppliers will start to make some choices about who they work for and which country they work in. Everyone is going back to the drawing board and if the legislation requirements are too hard, if one country is hard to work in, the supply chain will choose to work in a country or area with a more favorable conditions," says Grainger.
Grainger noted that "Marine Contracting in offshore renewables has become increasingly unsustainable which places the sustainability of the industry at risk. This can only be reversed with a fairer allocation of risk between governments, investors, developers and contractors.” IMCA has just published an update to its offshore wind "Contacting Principles" which explains the challenges faced by marine contractors in making fair returns on their investments in the people, assets and technologies required to deliver the ambitious targets being set by governments. The industry is already seeing some ongoing offshore wind projects losing money and some prospective ones being deferred while developers renegotiate the onerous terms. Some large contractors have suffered significant losses on projects and at one has exited the Taiwanese offshore wind industry as a result.
"Over our years of supporting the global community, we've always placed our priority on international requirements first, then gradually established and accommodated local needs. It is crucial that the formation of rules and regulations keeps up with changes in the industry as well as the technology. Our standards and guidelines are not gold-plated, they have been developed by the industry, for the industry. I don't mean to criticize academics, however academics do not write our guidelines and best practices. They are written by people doing the work today. People with the experience, so it's very practical, technical knowledge. It's not theoretical knowledge by any means, and it's already available. IMCA is a fantastic network of over 700 members who all want to continuously improve performance across the industry and share best practice. Of course, in a new country with a short history of offshore marine construction, it will take a little time, however, we can provide a head start, increasing and supporting the pace of change." Grainger emphasized.
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