Continued Compliance

In order to demonstrate continued compliance with the ISM Code the company and the ships have to be issued with certificates.

The certificate issued to the company is known as the Document of Compliance (DoC). It is issued by the Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA), who regulate shipping for the government, for a five year period.

The certificate issued to the ships is known as the Shipboard Management Certificate (SMC).  These certificates are issued by the MCA for a five year period.

The ISM certification is maintained with a rigorous schedule of audits and checks:

• The Safety Management System (SMS) is periodically reviewed by ship and shore staff to ensure that the information and procedures contained within them are valid and reflect current practice;
• The SMS is subject to periodic internal audits carried out by Red Funnel managers.  Every area of the fleet, ships and office, are audited at least once in a 12 month period;
• The MCA will audit the company ashore once a year to ensure that the DoC is up to date and that the management ashore is working correctly.  The ships are audited by the MCA once every 2½ years to ensure that the SMS on board the ship is doing its job correctly.