From the President -
With the globalisation of IMCA gaining momentum, the association is winning greater world-wide recognition and support for its role as the offshore contracting industry's primary global facilitator. Equally, as the organisation expands rapidly to encompass many different cultures, the pace and extent of change present a termendous challenge to ensure the organisation's focus and activity remain within its established role. While IMCA welcomes the application of its best-practice guidance in client contracts to help drive up safety across the sector, some elements of the membership remain unclear that IMCA is not a standard-setting body issuing rules for the industry.
Safety continues to receive a high level of attention among members and it was encouraging to see such high attendance at IMCA's recent safety seminar held in Newcastle. One of the most interesting topics highlighted at that event was the impact of cultural attitudes upon safety practice and the value of behavioural safety analysis as a tool for analysing when and why people in safety-critical positions make inappropriate decisions due to their own cultural assumptions.
Meanwhile, as IMCA expands, global events are undermining the development of new growth opportunities offshore. Most especially, contractors and their clients are being hit hard by the combined effect of a general economic downturn and the rapid escalation of insurance premiums. Since 9/11, net global insurance markets have contracted dramatically. Taken together, these threats make it both harder and more important that IMCA should sustain its focus on safety best practice and continue to grow into an organisation of global stature.
As oil companies seek to push risk on to the shoulders of their contractors, IMCA can help develop and promote a collective response to this problem. To that end, IMCA has commissioned consultants to assess options for IMCA members faced with clients unable to get crucial routine insurance or indemnities to cover either equipment or personnel required for basic offshore project and maintenance work. The results of this research will be reviewed at an event planned for Houston in May, where IMCA has invited major clients from the oil and gas sector to come and discuss how best to apportion indemnity and insurance risk for the future.
Steve Preston, Heerema Marine Contractors
IMCA President 2003-4
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