MLC pocket checklist and smartphone app launched by Lloyd’s Register and UK P&I Club

Captain Jim Barclay, Nigel Carden and Karl Lumbers

Latest in a series of successful pocket checklists will support Masters, Officers and managers in preparing for inspections against the requirements of the Maritime Labour Convention 2006. 

Lloyd’s Register and the UK P&I Club have developed the ILO MLC Pocket Checklist in both a conventional format and, for the first time ever, a smartphone app, to help ship operators comply with the convention’s requirements and reduce the risk of port state control detentions.

The International Labour Organisation’s (ILO) Maritime Labour Convention (MLC) was introduced to help ensure that all seafarers, regardless of their nationality and the flag of the ships they work on, can enjoy decent working and living conditions. The MLC was ratified in August this year and will enter into force in August 2013. Ship operators, crews and their managers are looking for assistance in ensuring compliance with the new Convention.

The pocket checklist app serves as an interactive tool that enables ships’ crews and their managers to view the requirements of the ILO MLC and check off required activities as they are completed. The app is free and available for iPhone, iPad, Android devices, Windows phone and BlackBerry. Lloyd’s Register has now produced six pocket checklists in a series that address regulatory compliance requirements. They have been highly popular with the marine industry worldwide.

Captain Jim Barclay, Lloyd’s Register’s Port State Control specialist said: ”The hard copy versions of our PSC pocket guides are seen by the marine industry as extremely useful for crew members to use as an ‘aide memoir’ to help reduce the risk of PSC detention. With advances in technology it was felt that an electronic version of this pocket guide could be of further help, so we have developed an easy to use app that will benefit both ship and shore based personnel in the course of their duties.”

The UK P&I Club has been a strong supporter of the Lloyd’s Register pocket checklists. Director Karl Lumbers commenting on the latest release said: “The MLC represents a significant change to the regulation of employment terms and working conditions for seafarers. It consolidates and updates more than 65 international labour standards adopted over the last 80 years.   For the first time, it creates a system of certification and inspection to enforce those standards.

Masters and senior officers taking steps now to ensure their ship is compliant with MLC will need support. We believe this pocket guide will help those at the sharp end enormously.”

In addition to this checklist and app, Lloyd’s Register is providing inspection and certification services to shipowners, shipyards and operating companies that address the five titles of the Convention. Training courses to support your needs and help you prepare for the Convention’s implementation are also available.

The smartphones and tablet app will be available later next week from the App Store, Google Play, Windows Store and BlackBerry AppWorld. To download the relevant version of the app for your device go to www.lr.org/mlc. Hard copies of the checklist can be ordered from www.webstore.lr.org or www.ukpandi.com.

Lloyd’s Register provides independent assurance to companies operating high-risk, capital-intensive assets in the energy and transportation sectors. We enhance the safety of life, property and the environment by helping our clients to ensure the quality construction and operation of critical infrastructure.

Download

The ILO MLC pocket checklist is also available to download at www.dunelmpr.co.uk/UKP&I-ILO-MLC-pocket-checklist2012.pdf

Lloyd’s Register

‘Lloyd’s Register’ is a trading name of Lloyd’s Register Group Limited and its subsidiaries. For further details, see www.lr.org/entities.                                                                                                   

UK P&I Club

The United Kingdom Mutual Steam Ship Assurance Association (Bermuda) Limited is generally known as the UK P&I Club. As a mutual association, the UK Club has no outside shareholders and no financial links with other organisations. Since its establishment in 1869, the Club has existed solely for the benefit of its members. Its structure as a mutual insurance association enables it to respond to the changing needs of its assureds and allows it to provide superior service, attention and coverage.

The UK P&I Club is directed by the members. Overall control lies with the directors, elected by the members from amongst themselves. The directors normally meet four times a year to formulate policy on calls, the scope of cover, finance, underwriting and claims matters, reinsurance and issues affecting the P&I world. They resolve specific claims which may not fall clearly within the cover.

Thomas Miller, the Club’s managers, is organised to respond promptly to requests for assistance and to provide informed advice and help with members’ claims. Individual support goes far beyond that normally provided by a commercial insurer.

The UK Club’s size and the scale of the managers’ operations has enabled the latter to develop specialist skills and expertise seldom seen in marine P&I.

In 350 ports around the world, on-the-spot help and local expertise is always available to members and the masters of their ships from the Club’s 460 correspondents and claims handling services and advice from the network of offices and branches in London, Piraeus, New Jersey, San Francisco, Hong Kong, Singapore, Tokyo, Beijing and Shanghai.

Thomas Miller

The Thomas Miller Group manages a number of world-leading mutual insurance organisations or “clubs, ” providing insurance for shipping, transport and professional indemnity risks; and captive insurance companies in the Isle of Man and Bermuda. Thomas Miller provides risk management consultancy services and, through its regulated specialist subsidiaries, delivers a full investment management service to mutual clubs, captives and other clients. The firm incorporated in 1999 and is owned and controlled by its 550 employees worldwide.