Maritime Safety Management System (SMS)
• Serve as the company’s Designated Person Ashore (DPA), linking shipboard operations and management on all safety and pollution-prevention matters.
• Maintain the vessel Safety Management System (SMS) under the IMO ISM Code, keeping policies and shipboard procedures current across all on-water operations.
• Partner with operations to develop a Remote Operation Center Safety Management System (ROCSMS) that supplements the ship’s SMS, per emerging IMO guidance for Maritime Autonomous Surface Ships (MASS).
• Document the relationship between the ship’s SMS and the ROCSMS through the MASS ROC Certificate, maintaining the ship’s established safety level.
• Develop safety standards and acceptance criteria for launch, recovery, towing, support-vessel, maintenance, and flyaway activities.
• Provide independent safety assessments to inform operators’ go/no-go and risk decisions, and escalate concerns to leadership.
• Maintain vessel safety documentation and records, and support the captain on drills and emergency readiness to a standard suitable for class, flag, and customer review.
Risk Management & Field Support
• Support operations with risk assessments and job hazard analyses, advising on mitigation and contingency plans.
• Embed with teams during tests and live missions to observe execution and advise on safe practices.
• Develop safety checklists, pre-operation briefs, and emergency-response procedures for coastal, open-water, and forward environments.
• Advise on safe handling of marine and industrial hazards, including fuels, hazardous materials, confined spaces, and work at heights.
Maritime Regulatory Compliance
• Advise operations on compliance with IMO conventions (ISM Code, SOLAS, MARPOL, STCW, COLREGs) and applicable USCG, flag/port state, OSHA, environmental, and DoD requirements.
• Work with classification societies (e.g., ABS), the USCG, and flag/port state authorities to align safety practice with class, survey, and statutory requirements.
• Translate maritime safety standards into field-ready procedures for autonomous surface vessels.
Incident Response & Continuous Improvement
• Coordinate incident and near-miss reporting, investigations, and root cause corrective action (RCCA), reporting findings to review boards to prevent repeat issues.
• Track safety metrics and report fleet safety readiness to leadership.
• Feed lessons learned into procedures, training, and engineering to improve safety and reliability.
• Deliver safety training on safe operation, mission execution, and emergency procedures.
• Develop safety training materials and onboarding for operational personnel.
• Track training completion and certification currency, scheduling refreshers before they lapse.
• Serve as the first point of contact for day-to-day safety questions.
• Promote knowledge sharing across autonomy, software, hardware, systems, and maintenance teams.
Assurance & Administration
• Maintain a central register of vessel and personnel certifications and licenses; track expirations and coordinate renewals.
• Track safety findings and corrective actions to closure.
• Prepare recurring safety and assurance reporting for leadership and customers.
• Administer safety-related permits and coordinate insurance and vendor documentation.