annual report 2015 30 march - qaceqace.co/documents/2016/04/2015-annual-report-2.pdf · assessment...

Assessment of The EU Recognised Organisations Quality Management Systems

Annual Report 2015

Quality Assessmentand Certification Entity

© QACE 2016Copying from this document can be done provided source reference

QACE1 Lyric SquareLondon W6 0NB UKwww.qace.co

Company number 7455733Registered in England and WalesCommunity interest companylimited by guarantee

4 QACE 2013 Annual Report QACE 2013 Annual Report 5 Table of Contents Glossary

Executive summary ................................................................................................. 06

I. Introduction ........................................................................................................ 08 II. Scope of Activities ............................................................................................... 09

III. The 2015 Work Plan .......................................................................................... 10

IV. Assessment Activities ........................................................................................ 12

V. Certificates of Compliance ................................................................................. 16

VI. Findings .............................................................................................................. 18

VII. Recommendations ............................................................................................. 22

VIII. Working with IACS .............................................................................................. 26

IX. Members ............................................................................................................ 28

X. European Commission Assessment .................................................................... 29

XI. Concluding Remarks ........................................................................................... 30

XII. Acknowledgements ............................................................................................ 32

Annex A Elected Non-‐Executive Directors of the Board for QACE ............................................ 34

Annex B Members Of QACE -‐ EU Recognised Organisations .................................................... 35

Annex C

Assessment-‐ Review 2016 Collective Recommendations .......................................... 36

ABS .....................................................................................................................American Bureau of Shipping ACB .................................................................................................................... Accredited Certification Body BSI ................................................................................. The British Standards Institution [Certification Body] CCJ......................................................................................... Quality Certification Center [Certification Body] CCS ........................................................................................................................ China Classification Society CIC .................................................................................................Community Interest Company [Non Profit] CO.................................................................................................................................... RO Controlling Office CR ....................................................................................................................... Collective Recommendations CRS ..................................................................................................................... Croatian Register of Shipping DEKRA .................................................................................... DEKRA Certification GmbH [Certification Body] DNV GL.............................................................................................Det Norske Veritas Germanischer Lloyd DQS ................................................................................................................ DQS GmbH [Certification Body] EC ................................................................................................................................ European Commission EMSA .......................................................................................................... European Maritime Safety Agency EU .......................................................................................................................................... European Union EUW ..................................................................................................... IACS ACB Auditor End User Workshop HO ............................................................................................................................................ RO Head Office IACS ................................................................................ International Association of Classification Societies IACS PR ............................................................................................................ IACS Procedural Requirements IACS UR ................................................................................................................. IACS Unified Requirements IMO ........................................................................................................ International Maritime Organization IRS ......................................................................................................................... Indian Register of Shipping IR ......................................................................................................................... Individual Recommendation ISM .................................................................................................... International Safety Management Code ISO ........................................................................................... International Organization for Standardization KR ......................................................................................................................... Korean Register of Shipping LR.............................................................................................................................................. Lloyd’s Register NC..................................................................................................... Audit finding graded as Non Conformity NGO...................................................................................................... IMO Non-‐Governmental Organisation NK ..................................................................................................................................... Nippon Kaiji Kyokai OB........................................................................................................... Audit finding graded as Observation PA .............................................................................................................................. RO Plan Approval Centre PRP .......................................................................................................................... Procedure Review Project PRS ................................................................................................................... Polish Register of Shipping S.A QMS ................................................................................................................... Quality Management System QSCS ............................................................................................... IACS Quality System Certification Scheme RINA ................................................................................................................................. RINA Services S.p.A. RO.............................................................................................................................. Recognised Organisation RS .........................................................................................................Russian Maritime Register of Shipping SAI G. ................................................................................................... SAI Global Limited [Certification Body] SGS ...................................................................................................................... SGS S.A. [Certification Body] SL ....................................................................................................................................... RO Survey Location VCA .............................................................................................................................. Vertical Contract Audit

6 QACE 2015 Annual Report QACE 2015 Annual Report 7

Executive Summary

Throughout this report readers who have been following QACE progress and reading previous reports will notice the word ‘assessment’ has replaced ‘observation’. QACE underwrote its control of the assessment and certification process in 2015, through agreements with the EU Recognised Organisations (EU ROs) and their Accredited Certification Bodies (ACBs).

Previous years’ reports have pointed to a number of developments and actions. This is certainly the case again. 2015 is also the year that QACE completed the attributes associated with a company with established credentials and recognition.

One result of the very positive reaction to the QACE recommendations and their relevance is that it supports the increasing effectiveness of the assessment process.

Based on the assessment activity QACE would draw attention to the four Collective Recommendations detailed in Annex C, related to auditing new and major statutory requirements, a review of the surveyor monitoring requirements, using major incident and casualty feedback and verifying the effective implementation of new procedures.


I Introduction

II Scope of Activities

This the fifth Annual Report, for the purpose of recording QACE activities and communicating the Collective Recommendations (Annex C) to interested parties. “QACE -‐ Entity for the Quality Assessment and Certification of Organisations Recognised by the European Union -‐ CIC” was founded on the 24 November 2010 by the then 12, now 11, organisations recognised by the European Union (Annex B). The establishment was the result of the mandatory requirement in Article 11 of EU Regulation (EC) No 391/2009 ‘Common rules and standards for ship inspection and survey organisations’, that requires an independent body shall carry out “frequent and regular assessment of the quality management systems of the Recognised Organisations”. QACE is incorporated under the United Kingdom Companies Act 2006 as a private limited and community interest (not for profit) company. The company has its office in London. QACE exercises its mandate by conducting assessments of the audits and certification carried out by independent Accredited Certification Bodies (ACBs) contracted by the EU ROs to the extent that it will verify and assess that the requirements of ISO 9001 and of the internationally recognised quality standards for Recognised Organisations (ROs), including the IACS Quality System Certification Scheme (QSCS) requirements as adopted by QACE and as set out in the QACE procedures.

The QACE Scope of Activities is defined as “The Assessment of the Quality Management Systems (QMS) of the EU Recognised Organisations (EU ROs) in accordance with the principles of ISO 19011:2011 ‘Guidelines for auditing management systems’, through the witnessed application of the ISO 9001:2008 and IACS Quality System Certification Scheme (QSCS) requirements by ISO 17021:2011 accredited certification bodies”.

The main basis of Assessment is the ISO 9001:2008 quality standard. The inclusion of ISO 9001 expertise from the accredited bodies and their auditors, in addition to the technical audit defined under the IACS Quality System Certification Scheme (QSCS) continues to have a significant impact.

All ROs are also required to have a QMS compliant with the “IACS Quality Management System Requirements” including rules and procedures compliant with the IACS Technical Resolutions. The inclusion recognises the highly technical nature of the RO’s work that requires a combination of the strengths of a continual improvement and process approach with the verification of technical compliance and performance necessary to protect and improve the quality and safety of the ships and the people and cargo that they carry.

The IACS “Quality Management Systems Requirements” (QMSR, therein referred to as ‘QSCS’) are built upon the quality management requirements of ISO 9001:2008, including, where considered necessary, additional requirements and guidelines relevant and appropriate to classification societies. Having been in operation and developing since the early 1990’s, the scheme incorporates both the ‘Minimum Criteria’ of the EC Regulation (EC) No. 391:2009 and the IMO RO Code requirements.


III The 2015 Work Plan

The plan for 2015:

• To deliver an extensive and effective annual Assessment Plan in the most cost efficient manner,

• To establish control over the assessment and certification process through

established agreements with the ROs and ACBs,

• To deliver training to the scheme’s auditors,

• To implement the QACE Quality Management System (QMS) and procedures,

• To achieve ISO 9001:2008 certification,

• To increase stakeholder awareness of QACE activities,

• To complete the first year second cycle of RO Individual Recommendations,

• To undertake a full analysis of assessment and audit findings with a view to increased analysis to support the 2015 Collective Recommendations.

In order to achieve the year’s objectives QACE has established a small Secretariat with the addition of an Administration Officer, who joined the four man sub-‐contracted Assessor team (Annex A). The team includes three new and highly experienced Assessors and an Auditor Trainer. The office completed a transition to electronic working during the year and now delivers its publications and products through the QACE website, www.qace.co. QACE developed and published its Quality Management Scheme (QMS) and QACE procedures early in the year.

The QMS was audited soon afterwards and QACE is happy to report ISO 9001:2008 certification has been achieved. QACE raised marine industry and stakeholder awareness through presentations at the GREEN4Seas event, attendance at NOR Shipping and as a finalist at the Lloyds List Safety Awards.

As reported in 2014 the first years of QACE observation activity focused on the consistency of the new audit scheme by Accredited Certification Bodies (ACBs) and the fulfillment of requirements defined for the audit and certification processes. Then to extend the number and scope of the observations to include different types of audits held on each RO, to collect more information to establish that the necessary actions had been taken, to identify further opportunities for improvement and, if necessary, to impose additional QACE requirements. Apart from the Assessment Plan as the core business the 2015 Work Plan included;

• Four Board of Directors (BoD) meetings and an Annual General Meeting (AGM), • An Annual QACE Assessor’s Meeting for planning the year’s Assessment Plan,

• Visits to ROs to deliver Individual Recommendations.


IV Assessment Activities

The main objectives of QACE’s assessments are:

• The regular assessment of the RO’s Quality Management Systems (QMS),

• To collect information in order to formulate and adopt individual and collective recommendations for the improvement of ROs’ processes and internal and external control mechanisms,

• To enhance the ability of ROs to identify rapidly and then correct

weaknesses in their rules, processes and internal controls for the safety of the ships they inspect and certify, and

• To ensure that the audit and the certification processes are conducted

consistently, to common standards in accordance with the ISO 9001:2008 and QSCS standards and QACE procedures.

The January two day Assessor’s Meeting is an important event in the QACE calendar as it establishes the audit assessment visits that will be recommended to the Board of Directors to be witnessed for the year ahead. A risk-‐based approach is employed in the selection, tailored to each RO’s fleet, the RO’s activities and information from previous Individual Recommendations. It is of great assistance in this process that the ACBs are becoming increasingly effective in producing testing annual audit plans and in selecting risk-‐based samples to audit, including complex new building projects and older tonnage ships in service surveys. In 2015 QACE witnessed 49 audits (46 in 2014), over 28 assessment visits (Table 1). Part of the risk-‐based approach includes looking for the assessments to include increased follow-‐up of issues identified in the RO’s location audits.

Success has been reported in relation to QACE Collective Recommendation 5 and a process approach to ship new construction. It is important that suitable projects are selected and the various stages of the project are included; from the contract, plan approval, a Vertical Contract Audit (VCA) on board (at a suitable time when major surveys can be witnessed) and follow-‐up of the documentation and formal classification during the RO’s Head Office.

The New Construction Audit Process

Vertical Contract Audits (VCAs) are central to the audit process, witnessing the RO’s delivery of surveys or audits on board the ships. Another focus for the year was the inclusion of new construction surveys and major surveys on ships in operation for all ROs. Some more work is necessary in relation to VCAs and the timing of the audit on board, such that significant surveys can be witnessed, during the most appropriate stage of the survey.

Auditing the plan approval Then the ship under construction Finally the records & classification


HO -‐ Head Office PA-‐ Plan Approval Office VCA -‐ Vertical Contract Audit (SO) -‐ Ships in Operation CO -‐ Control Office SL -‐ Service Location Office (NC) -‐ New Construction (MEC) -‐ Materials Equipment Components

Non-‐member assessments

QACE ASSESSMENT LOCATIONS 2015

The effectiveness of the Assessment Plan can be best demonstrated by the changes that have been implemented as a result of the strength, relevance and impact of the QACE Collective and Individual Recommendations, such that important RO quality management system changes have been implemented. The QACE Board of Directors during their meeting in October 2015 made the decision to seek UKAS accredited certification body certification to ISO 17021 ‘Conformity assessment -‐Requirements for bodies providing audit and certification of management systems’. The Board of Directors believes that this is a necessary stage in confirming the independent credibility of the QACE implemented scheme.

Ass No ACB RO Location Date Type

01-‐02 DQS IRS Mumbai 24-‐27 Feb HO / PA

03 DQS IRS Nantong 5-‐6 Mar NC VCA

04 CCJ PRS Gdynia 12-‐13 Mar SO VCA

05 CCJ PRS Dubai 16-‐17 Mar SL

06 BSI LR Singapore 26-‐27 Mar PA

07-‐08 BSI LR Chennai 6-‐10 Apr SL / NC VCA

09-‐10 SAI G. RS St Petersburg 20-‐22 Apr HO / SO VCA

11-‐12 DEKRA DNV GL Hovik 20-‐24 Apr HO / PA

13 DQS IRS Qushan 18-‐19 May SO VCA

14 -‐ 15 BSI BV Tuzla 20-‐22 May SO VCA / MEC VCA

16-‐18 DEKRA DNV GL Seoul & Busan 18-‐22 May CO/ SL / NC VCA

19-‐ 20 BSI LR Kaohsiung 25-‐29 May SL / SO VCA

21-‐23 BSI BV Tuzla 18-‐20 May SL / CO / NC VCA

24 SGS NK Nantong 4-‐5 Jun NC VCA

25-‐27 BSI CRS Split & Rijeka 15-‐19 Jun SL / NC VCA/ SO VCA

28-‐29 BSI ABS London 15-‐19 Jun CO/PA

30 SGS CCS Athens 16-‐17 Jun SL

31 SAI G. RS Szczecin 22-‐23 Jun SO VCA

32-‐33 SGS NK Tokyo 22-‐26 Jun HO / PA

34 BSI ABS Nantong 13-‐14 Aug SO VCA

35 SGS CCS Beijing 25-‐28 Aug HO

36-‐38 BSI ABS Yokohama & Nagasaki 7-‐15 Sep CO/ PA / NC VCA

39-‐41 DEKRA RINA Jakarta & Hai Phong 7-‐15 Sep SL/ NC VCA / SO VCA

42 SGS NK Piraeus 17-‐18 Sep SO VCA

43 CCJ PRS Guangzhou 23-‐24 Sep NC VCA

44-‐45 DEKRA DNV GL Hamburg 5-‐9 Oct CO / HO

46 BSI CRS Split 9-‐13 Nov HO

47-‐49 BSI LR Southampton 8-‐12 Dec CO/ SL / SO VCA

Table 1: List of QACE Assessments carried out in 2015

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QACE 2015 Annual Report QACE 2015 Annual Report 17

V Certificates of Compliance

The QACE Board of Directors are pleased to announce that, following the implementation of the Tripartite Agreements and as a result of a highly effective assessment process, Certificates of Compliance have been approved and were issued to the ROs during the QACE Annual General Meeting in Tokyo on the 3rd November 2015. The Certificates are valid for two years and, provided compliance is maintained, will be reissued during Individual Recommendation visits.

The RO’s Certificates of Compliance can be found on the QACE website www.qace.co

Above: The Certificate of Compliance template

From the left front row Massimo Tridondani (RINA), Naoto Ikeda (ClassNK), Mladen Pavicic (CRS), Maria Krinskaya (RS), Svein Flogeland Gathe (DNV GL) Lukasz Korzeniewicz (PRS), Yoon Boo-‐geun (KRS) & Stephen Hryshchyshyn (ABS).

Eight of the RO QACE Authorised Representatives with Certificates of Compliance during the QACE Annual General Meeting in Tokyo 3rd November 2015.

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QACE 2015 Annual Report QACE 2015 Annual Report 1917

VI Findings

Asking questions After asking the ACBs and the ROs some fundamental questions about the audit scheme during previous year’s IACS QSCS End User Workshops, QACE is very pleased to report those questions have largely been answered.

Questions regarding.

• Whether or not the RO’s systems, processes and controls are being thoroughly tested?

• Whether or not improvements are being identified?

• Whether or not effective corrective actions are being realised?

• Whether or not performance is being improved?

While there will always be work to be done and the need for vigilant oversight, there is significant evidence to support the claim that both collective and individual RO improvements have been made to the RO’s practices, management systems and controls. This is particularly important in these difficult times for the industry where increasing pressure can be placed on the ROs and where increasingly complex requirement environment exists and where control over the standard of surveying and auditing must be ensured. Another question has been answered in relation to what is being done with the information collected.

QACE 2015 Collective Recommendation 1 called for trend analysis of audit findings to identify improvement areas. This reasoning is included in the new Tripartite Agreements between QACE, the ROs and the ACBs and a three-‐year analysis will be provided by each RO at the beginning of each year. Review of the submissions has been productive for a number of developments, and amongst them is the ability to identify and quickly correct necessary improvement areas and to provide (in a risk-‐based approach to audits), potential audit focus areas. QACE is very pleased to report further improvement in the technical auditing of the ROs in 2015. QACE congratulates the ACBs and ACB auditors for this continued commitment to the audit scheme. QACE, along with many of the other observers of the scheme, considered a major risk to the scheme had been the limited pool of the scheme’s auditors. At the end of 2015 the pool of auditors had increased to what is suggested to be the optimum number of fifteen auditors. The process for identifying new technical auditors with the necessary competences and extensive RO experience appears to be in place. One result of having a small pool of increasingly experienced auditors, has been their suggestion to include in the annual three-‐day training a focus on shared experience. While the mandatory course must contain training with regard to high risk and new statutory requirements this cross-‐fertilization of ideas, concerns and best practice has provided many benefits.


Three areas where improvement is necessary are in ensuring:

1. Vertical Contract Audits are held at an appropriate stage of surveys,

2. Follow-‐up of issues identified during field audits, and

3. That non-‐compliance corrective actions are appropriate and verified as effective at future audits.

These concerns can be balanced by the very encouraging practices witnessed by QACE when the auditing implements the best of the marine industries technical QSCS standard and ISO 9001:2008 standards continual improvement principals. The happy marriage of the ‘deep dive’ technical audit and technical findings and continual improvement has greatly enhanced the identification of weakness areas and the effectiveness of corrective actions

QACE has described the effect as ‘two standards, more than double the benefits’.

There are a number of other improvement areas, but it is also encouraging that QACE has identified best practices that have been developed by the ACBs and ROs that could be employed generally to raise the standard and effectiveness of the RO’s management systems.

Overall, last year’s report call for the scheme to move from compliance to a compliance and continuous improvement cycle has made significant progress in 2015.

QACE looks forward to assessing the results of the actions taken in these exciting times for the scheme, working for what it has been designed to achieve in improving safety.


VII Recommendations

Collective

Recommendations

Collective Recommendations (CRs) are key outputs from the assessment process. The four 2016 recommendations are detailed in Annex C.

In the third quarter of each calendar year the ROs are asked to comment on how the recommendations have been considered and dealt with within their own, or if relevant, within their ACB’s organisation. The responses are used to assess strengths and weaknesses, any areas of potential further improvement and potential audit focus points.

QACE recognises that this proactive methodology and approach and cycle of improvement needs to be adopted sometimes over a number of years and that serious change needs time to be successfully implemented. QACE would encourage the ROs in their responses to provide as much evidence of the results of their described changes as possible.

The feedback has been positive in confirming the recommendations have targeted useful and necessary areas for improvement.

In relation to the specific response to each of the 2015 Collective Recommendations and the actions taken, QACE can report:

1. Trend analysis of audit findings and additional actions. The recommendation wasincluded in the Tripartite Agreements established during the year such that QACEwill be advised of the RO’s rolling three year audit programmes findings trendanalysis each year. The development is designed for the identification ofimprovement areas and the effectiveness of the corrective actions taken.

2. Reporting by Surveyors of Deficiencies relating to Possible Safety ManagementSystem Failures (IACS PR17). QACE has observed a link between effectiveimplementation of PR17 and recommendation 3 in the early identification andmanagement of potentially sub-‐standard ships. An increased understanding of theuse of these controls can be reported.

3. Fleet Monitoring effectiveness. IACS have advised specific fleet monitoringrequirements will be included in the pending revision of QSCS Volume 3.

4. Evaluating Surveyor Activity Monitoring information (IACS PR6). While many ofthe EU RO’s responses highlight good practices or significant improvements, QACEsupports a review of the IACS PR with a view to refocusing on the core objective.

5. New construction process auditing. IACS have advised specific requirements willbe included in the pending revision of QSCS Volume 3. The recommendation is inline with the new ISO 9001:2015 process approach to auditing requirements.


Individual

Recommendations

Individual Recommendations (IRs) are another key output from the assessment process.

Designed to identify the individual RO’s strengths and weaknesses the recommendations are compiled from the results of QACE assessed audits, trend analysis of the audit non-‐compliance and observation findings, PSC performance information and other relevant publicly available information. Although confidential between QACE and the RO, it is expected that the RO shares the information with their ACB.

The analysis has proved effective in identifying issues specific to the RO. In turn the RO feedback has been that the IRs are accurate and have been supported by the RO’s own internal audit and monitoring activity findings. In line with this approach the QACE 2015 Collective Recommendation number 1 called for:

Trend analysis of audit findings and additional actions. ACB audit non-‐compliances and observations (findings) have been recorded over more than three years for each RO. QACE, through its own analysis has found a three year analysis of the findings to be highly effective in the identification of RO performance trends, areas for improvement, required corrective actions and possible ACB focus issues. QACE recommends that the process is implemented by the ACBs and ROs.

The QACE Tripartite Agreement, that became effective from the 1st July 2015, obliges the ROs to provide three-‐year audit trend analysis by the 31st January of each year with any resulting audit focus areas.

QACE requests a formal response to its Individual Recommendations within three months of their delivery. QACE monitors any RO or ACB performance issues during assessments and during the two-‐year cycle. To include as much assessment information as possible QACE has separated the IR visit from attending the RO’s Head Office audit. In a further move for 2016, to follow-‐up and verify the RO’s actions in relation to the QACE recommendations, the RO’s Head Office audit will be attended the year after the recommendations visit.

In most circumstances to control cost QACE has been able to combine the recommendations visit with other planned travel requirements.

2015 saw the start of the second round of IR visits to five of the eleven ROs and the first IR visit to Indian Register of Shipping as an organisation requesting recognition.

QACE has been very pleased with the positive reaction to the IRs from the ROs who have been very supportive of the process and the benefits to their systems. Full and extensive responses to the recommendations have been received by QACE within the prescribed three-‐month period from all ROs.


VIII Working with IACS

QACE ensures its independence from any other body and especially its own member ROs and the ROs’ main association, the International Association of Classifications Societies (IACS). With the conditions of independence and formal relationship established, a strong working relationship between QACE and IACS benefits the community.

As QACE adopts the IACS Quality System Certification Scheme (QSCS) as well as the ISO 9001:2008 standard, the relationship is particularly important. In February 2015 the first annual QACE QSCS feedback report was delivered, the accepted comments to be adopted in the latest revision of QSCS Volume 3.

QACE supports QSCS in its 25-‐year anniversary and, like IACS itself, sees the scheme as the marine industry premier standard, providing the necessary auditable procedural and technical requirements to help ensure that the Recognised Organisations can deliver constantly and consistently to the highest standards of performance.

The addition of the ISO 9001:2008 continual improvement and process driven approach in addition to the QSCS ‘deep dive’ technical audit has had a marked effect on the RO’s ability to identify trends and weaknesses and deliver increasingly effective corrective actions. This becomes increasingly, or even vitally important, with the pressures associated with the previously mentioned increasingly complex requirement environment.

One of the industry’s chief concerns with the serious responsibilities that lie in the hand of the ROs is their ability to get it right first time.

Over all of this the audit scheme must be able to thoroughly test the RO’s controls. QACE has established its auditor training requirements through a QACE trainer working in cooperation with IACS during the annual mandatory three-‐day auditor training course. Higher risk areas and new statutory requirements are a focal part of the training.

The training of the scheme’s auditors is considered by QACE as highly effective. The addition of a third day to the mandatory annual training with a focus on statutory training in addition to a sharing of experience is paying dividends in the consistency of the auditor team. There are early signs that the identified risk to the scheme of too small a number of auditors within the scheme has been alleviated by an increase to 15 auditors and the success of the process in identifying new auditors.

QACE also supports the annual ACB End-‐User Workshop as a vital contingent in a common understanding of the scheme and its constituent stakeholder’s different requirements and in order to identify necessary improvements and opportunities.

The most important element of the relationship is QACE’s involvement in the development of the scheme it adopts.

A new major line of work for the IACS QSCS is to incorporate the new ISO 9001:2015 risk and process based requirements. QACE will seek even closer involvement in the standards review process.

The IACS QSCS celebrates its 25th anniversary in 2016 and QACE joins with IACS in celebrating the occasion. QACE thanks IACS for the substantial and important work in maintaining QSCS and particularly the IACS Quality Committee, IACS Operations Centre and the industry representatives that make up the IACS Advisory Committee.


IX Members

X European Commission Assessment

The Membership of QACE remained unchanged in 2015.

Regulation EC 391/2009 Article 11 2 (b) requires ‘certification of the quality management systems of Recognised Organisations, including organisations for which recognition has been requested’.

The Indian Register of Shipping (IRS) is in the recognition process. Once approved QACE looks forward to welcoming IRS as a QACE member.

In line with the requirement, Indian Register of Shipping has been subject to the same scope of assessment as the already Recognised Organisations and IRS was issued with a QACE Certificate of Compliance in November 2015.

Having established Tripartite Agreements with the ROs and ACBs, effective from 1st July 2015, QACE completed the actions designed to address the European Commission’s DG Mobility and Transport initial assessment findings in relation of the setup, maintenance and operation of QACE in accordance with Article 11 of Regulation (EC) No.391/2009.

It is expected that the European Maritime Safety Agency (EMSA), as the Commission’s technical services provider will carry out a further inspection in 2016.


XI Concluding Remarks

The year 2015 represented the fifth year of QACE operations. Last year’s annual report summarised the year as:

‘Moving beyond compliance to the stepped changes required to achieve a continual improvement cycle, driving performance’.

The QACE Board of Directors, in preparing this year’s report, realise how much has been achieved again in 2015. QACE focus in 2015 turned to the performance of the ROs rather than the ACBs auditing them. QACE moved to assessment rather than observations in 2015, working with the ROs and ACBs in establishing a Tripartite Agreement to formally establish the relationships and QACE involvement over the audit and certification process. With the agreements in place, effective from the 1st July 2015 and a demonstrably effective Assessment Plan already in place QACE was able to bring forward plans and approved RO Certificates of Compliance Certificates at the beginning of November 2015. QACE Board of Directors finds itself confident that the requirements of Regulation 391 can be met and QACE can meet the challenges and drive the improvements that the stakeholders and industry are looking for. The QACE Board of Directors again commits to its principals of independence, transparency and in its promise to help drive the effectiveness of the necessary controls and improvements in the general and individual Recognised Organisation’s management systems performance.

While meeting the requirements for an independent quality assessment and certification entity is and will remain the QACE focus, the QACE Board of Directors recognises the industry’s reliance on the Recognised Organisation classification societies and the subsequent increased level of stakeholder interest. One result has been over auditing of the ROs. QACE will continue to explore opportunities to satisfy both the need to effectively assess the ability of the ROs to consistently deliver on their responsibilities to the highest levels of performance and, to provide a ‘go to’ organisation expert on RO performance.

www.qace.co website


XII Acknowledgments

The Board of Directors and Secretary General thank the Recognised Organisations and particularly the Accredited Certification Body’s for their cooperation and efforts that have contributed so much in 2015, especially in relation to incorporating QACE requirements and assessment into the planning and conducting of the audits. QACE also acknowledges the importance of IACS role in the audit scheme and particularly in 2016 when celebrating 25 years of QSCS The Board of Directors and Secretary General wish to formally recognise the importance of the role, professionalism and the commitment of the QACE assessor team (see Annex A). QACE was conceived and created by the efforts of many individuals and continues to secure its independent mandate by acknowledging the common purpose of safer ships and cleaner seas that requires the commitment of so many.

QACE 2015 Annual Report / Annex A QACE 2015 Annual Report / Annex B 34 35

Annex A Annex B

Elected Non-‐Executive Directors of the Board for QACE

Klaus GRENSEMANN ................................................................................................................. Germany

Hiroshi (Dave) IWAMOTO ................................................................................................................ Japan

C. Dean TSERETOPOULOS............................................................................................................. Greece

Francis VALLAT..................................................................................................................................... France

Hui XIE ....................................................................................................................................................China

Secretariat

Desmond GUTTERIDGE .......................................................................................... Secretary General

Alima KAMARA..........................................................Administration Officer (from January 2015)

Subcontracted Assessors

Tim HO (from December 2014)............................................................................................ Far East

Mike JENNINGS (from December 2014)............................................................................... Europe

Hartmut NICEKL (from December 2014)...............................................................................Europe

Gur Sarup ................................................................................................................................ South Asia

Subcontracted Auditor Trainer

Terje EINARSRUD ..............................................................................................................Europe

Members of QACE – EU Recognised Organisations

American Bureau of Shipping

Bureau Veritas SA

China Classification Society

Croatian Register of Shipping

DNV GL AS

Korean Register of Shipping

Lloyd’s Register

Nippon Kaiji Kyokai

Polish Register of Shipping S.A.

RINA Services S.p.A.

Russian Maritime Register of Shipping

Elected President

Svein Flogeland Gathe, DNV GL AS till November 2015

Andrew Kennedy, LR from November 2015

Approved Accredited Certification Bodies

CCJ............................................................................Warsaw, Poland

BSI ......................................................................Milton Keynes, U.K.

DEKRA Certification B.V. .................Arnhem, The Netherlands

SAI Global Limited...............................................Sydney, Australia

SGS S.A. ........................................................... Geneva, Switzerland

QACE 2015 Annual Report / Annex C QACE 2015 Annual Report / Annex C 36 37

Annex C

2016 Collective Recommendations

QACE has assessed a fourth year of the system and can report consistent, transparent and robust audits, strengthened procedures and the continuous improvement to the Recognised Organisation quality management systems and service provision. QACE recognises the efforts being made by ACBs and ROs to ensure that this succeeds.

QACE also recognises the RO’s work within IACS for the inclusion of relevant 2015 recommendations within the Quality System Certification Scheme (QSCS) requirements.

For 2016 QACE would draw attention to four areas of the audit system that require improvement:

1/ Auditing of new and major statutory requirements.

The scheme’s auditor training includes training in relation to new and coming statutory requirements. QACE recommends that new statutory requirements become a focus for following year’s audits, at an appropriate time to audit the RO’s technical evaluation and inclusion into rules and instructions, advice or training to surveyors, associated products such as checklists and, once implemented, reviewed effectiveness in the field during Survey Location audits and wherever possible Vertical Contract Audits on board during surveys. It is recommended that specific major or high-‐risk requirements are selected. The recommendation supports a process-‐based approach to auditing and will cover a number of years.

2/ Review of Activity Monitoring (IACS PR6)

Last year’s Collective Recommendation recognised the weakness in the ability of some ROs to evaluate the result of activity monitoring and evidencing identified improvements. Feedback received since indicates that the procedural requirements may not be focussed on the aim, which is for ROs to evaluate the performance of field surveyors and auditors and plan approval staff. It is recommended that the process be reconsidered to effectively achieve the requirement.

3/ Major Incident and Casualty feedback

While the responsibility for casualty investigation lies with the flag State, Recognised Organisations should learn any lessons relevant to them from internal casualty investigations and major incidents, both in addressing possible rule amendments and advice to the surveyor team where it is appropriate. QACE recommends that requirements are developed to be verified under audit. In 2016 QACE will look for the audit and results of IACS PR2 Early Warning Scheme and implementation of the new (July 2015) IACS PR No.2A ‘Procedure for Hull failure Incident Reporting‘ and IACS PR No.2B ‘Procedure for Early Warning of Serious Hull Failure Incidents’ requirements.

4/ Effective implementation of new procedures

Last year’s Collective Recommendation are being covered with new procedures and guidance within the audit scheme. QACE would recommend an audit focus on implementation of the procedures and guidance into the RO’s systems, followed by a review of their effectiveness in operation. It is recognised these focuses would be relevant for 2017 and 2018.

annual report 2015 30 march - qaceqace.co/documents/2016/04/2015-annual-report-2.pdf · assessment...

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