Published 9 December 2022
A new quality assurance (QA) review process has been introduced for the IMCA eCMID System, to review a sample of uploaded vessel inspection reports on an ongoing basis. This is being undertaken independently by the IMCA secretariat using anonymised versions of uploaded reports, with a standard assessment template ensuring a consistent approach to the reviews.
The intention is to provide generalised feedback to inspectors, primarily through the AVI training process and regular newsletters on any areas for future improvement. This process supplements the accreditation (AVI) requirement through the IIMS Marine Surveying Academy, which ensures that inspectors hold and maintain the necessary experience and skills relevant to the vessel type being inspected.
Early reviews have also proved useful in identifying improvements to the inspection templates and the inspection app, such as improved guidance notes to clarify the intention of certain questions, and tweaks to the app layout and instructions which will be added to the development roadmap.
IMCA has updated IMCA M 167 – Guidance on the IMCA eCMID System – including full information on the QA process. The new edition (Rev. 4) also includes updated guidance to reflect the extensive changes to the system’s IT platform in recent years (including the browser-based eCMID Inspection App, launch of the analytics hub and other features) and other procedural and policy changes.
All users should familiarise themselves with the updated document, in particular AVIs and those supervising new inspectors training towards accreditation.