Background and goals of the investigation

Safety at sea is important economically and to society as a whole. The Norwegian Maritime Directorate shall maintain a high profile and be a driving force for safety at sea and a clean environment. By means of document control and inspections of vessels, it shall help to ensure that ships in service comply with the applicable regulations. The Norwegian Maritime Directorate has registered an increase in the number of accidents at sea during the period from 2001 to 2008.

A large number of employees left the Directorate in connection with its relocation from Oslo to Haugesund in 2006, and this meant that the Directorate lost experience and expertise. In addition to the loss of qualified personnel, the Directorate has also experienced an increase in its tasks relating to inspection, control and approval of vessels and seafarers as a result of increased activity in the shipping industry. The increased workload has resulted in further pressure on the personnel and resources situation.

The purpose of the audit has been to examine the extent to which the Norwegian Maritime Directorate has established the procedures and systems that are necessary in order to ensure that case processing in connection with document control is carried out in accordance with good practice.

Method

The investigation is based on document reviews of written documentation such as quality manuals, routines, guidelines and procedures. Interviews were also carried out with managers and executive officers at various levels in the Norwegian Maritime Directorate. Since the Vessels and Seafarers Department at the Directorate carries out nearly all document control, the information was primarily obtained from this department.

Results

The investigation shows that the Norwegian Maritime Directorate lacks important management information about case processing relating to document control of vessels and seafarers in several areas. The Directorate’s lists of the number of appeals received and exemptions from statutory requirements are incomplete. It also emerged that the Directorate does not have an overview of case processing times, and that it therefore publishes information about estimated case processing times. Moreover, the Directorate does not prepare lists of the number of processed and unprocessed cases. The investigation shows that the Norwegian Maritime Directorate has long had a shortage of qualified personnel, while its workload has increased.

The investigation shows that the Norwegian Maritime Directorate’s archive practices are irregular, and that omission of documentation from public correspondence records occurs. In one case, the reason for this omission was a wish to give the shipping company a chance to familiarise itself with the decision. The investigation also shows that the Norwegian Maritime Directorate has postponed the implementation of decisions without issuing a new decision.

The investigation shows that the Directorate has only to a limited extent developed procedures and checklists for document control of vessels and seafarers. Good case processing procedures for document control that ensure that vessels and seafarers' qualifications meet the regulatory requirements are very important to safety at sea, since they help to ensure good quality and verifiability in case processing, and reduce the risk of case processing errors.