I work for a sizable OSV operator in the gulf on a SOLAS DP2 vessel. I’ve been trying to get a handle on the load of paperwork the company puts on us. It’s relentless & seems overwhelming at times. Other than the normal statutory (USCG) paperwork like the masters logs, & keeping all the vessel docs up to date, there is SO MUCH more!! Ballast management, all the SOLAS stuff, GMDSS logs, garbage logs, cargo securing equipment, energy efficiency, environmental/VGP, believe me the list could go on & on. Then there is the DP paperwork, which actually is driven by more of an “as needed” basis, and all of the PMP stuff which we have through Preventer & is constanly coming up with stuff for us every single day. The good thing is I’m on a vessel with 4 bridge officers- 2 per watch, and I can delegate some to each so that it’s not too much on one person. I’ve been considering on making up some sort of spreadsheet on my computer to organize all of it so that nothing gets slipped through the cracks. I have never been accused of being the most organized individual in the world, or the gulf for that matter. How do you guys deal with this mountain of paperwork?
With a lot of cussing and crying and wishing I had a cute secretary to handle it all for me… Seriously though, We made a checklist here to keep up with it. Even still, some of it slips through the cracks from time to time. But that checklist/spreadsheet really is a lifesaver.
Break it down via spreadsheet or just on a word document into checklists: Daily, Weekly, Monthly, Quarterly, Annual, Event Driven, Pre/Post Voyage, On/off Contract, etc.
Do the same thing with your drills/training and safety meetings. Then with your ABS, SOLAS, USCG Requirements.
Break it down into digestible portions, then delegate some of those and make sure there is some system of accountability so nothing falls through the cracks, and that efforts aren’t being duplicated. It gets easier with repetition.
I went from filling out paperwork to change a lightbulb and 7 reports a hitch to a half ass logbook and a “just keep the fucking boat running” attitude from the office. Its kind of nice. :rolleyes:
[QUOTE=Capnklump;158588]I work for a sizable OSV operator in the gulf on a SOLAS DP2 vessel. I’ve been trying to get a handle on the load of paperwork the company puts on us. It’s relentless & seems overwhelming at times. Other than the normal statutory (USCG) paperwork like the masters logs, & keeping all the vessel docs up to date, there is SO MUCH more!! Ballast management, all the SOLAS stuff, GMDSS logs, garbage logs, cargo securing equipment, energy efficiency, environmental/VGP, believe me the list could go on & on. Then there is the DP paperwork, which actually is driven by more of an “as needed” basis, and all of the PMP stuff which we have through Preventer & is constanly coming up with stuff for us every single day. The good thing is I’m on a vessel with 4 bridge officers- 2 per watch, and I can delegate some to each so that it’s not too much on one person. I’ve been considering on making up some sort of spreadsheet on my computer to organize all of it so that nothing gets slipped through the cracks. I have never been accused of being the most organized individual in the world, or the gulf for that matter. How do you guys deal with this mountain of paperwork?[/QUOTE]
I sail deep-sea so I’m not sure how much is applicable;
C/M Ballast, cargo equipment
3/M Solas, garbage log
C/E Energy efficiency and environmental.
Two other time consuming tasks for me are payroll and port arrival documents.
We maintain spreadsheets etc as has been mentioned.
One trick I use to keep track of the ship’s documents. I keep them in a binder, each in it’s own plastic sleeve. .Each page is numbered and I label each page with the name of the document. (#1 Tonnage, #2 Load Line etc) That way if there is one missing or misfiled you can see right away.
I keep a legal pad on my desk with a work list. Every morning I start a new page, I transfer the undone task to the new sheet. I do it by hand rather then on the computer so I am forced to think about each item. I mark what ever task I am working on and if I get interrupted I go back to that task and don’t start on a different one.
Every day I put two items at the top of the list; Navigation and weather. I don’t cross them off until I have done a thorough check of each.Some days it seems like everyone is conspiring to make me take my eye off the ball. Don’t let it happen.
I don’t know your situation but as much as possible I avoid using paper. Handling files on a computer is much faster then paper files and folders I have a good scanner with a good feeder then can handle handfuls of paper. If someone tries to hand me a piece of paper I tell them to scan it and email it to me. If that doesn’t work I scan it myself and throw the paper away.
If someone stops me in the passage way and wants something I tell them to send me and email. That shifts the task from when it’s convenient for them to being able to do it on your schedule. In general as much as possible you want to be in charge of you time not the the crew.
I make heavy use of Outlook to keep track of files. Emails with attachments are often easier to find then buried in a folder somewhere.
If more then one person uses your computer you can arrange things the way you want using “shortcuts” without messing up the other user.
There is a book called “Getting Things Done” that has some useful tips.
If you are not a good typist spending some time speeding up pays off big.
Those are some really great ideas, thanks. As far as the ships documents are concerned, we do the same exact thing. We have a large binder & each document has its own sleeve, with an index of every doc contained in the front. And our document controller makes periodic visits to the vessel to make sure everything is in order.
It’s almost gotten to the point where companies need to hire pursers just to deal with all the paperwork!
This won’t apply to everyone, of course, but on a steady, liner trade, you can set up some sort of reminder system, whether it be on a spreadsheet, Outlook calendar, whiteboard, hell, even your myPhone, that can tell you what days you need to submit what paperwork.
It’s been said already but I believe it can’t be emphasized enough–[I]farm out what you can[/I]. If it’s cargo related, let your chief mate handle it. Medical, let your medical officer handle it. You get the idea.
Often, your ISM system will have some method of accounting for documents. The one at my company does, anyway. Any regulatory certificate has a specific place in a specific binder. They even include a handy-dandy checklist. Even at that, it might be worth setting up an Excel spreadsheet with all the required documents and their expiration dates. If you’re really good at Excel you can even color-code the expiration dates so you can tell at a glance what’s coming up soon. Nothing like being caught by surprise when you notice your Certificate of Financial Responsibility is due to expire within a week, and nobody in the office picked up on it either.
KC makes a great point also–don’t neglect the navigation and weather parts of the job. You don’t necessarily have to take a trip to the bridge each watch, but you should make regular appearances. The frequency of such appearances will of course depend on how much you trust your mates–there’s a reason the third mate traditionally stands the 8-12 watch, and it’s not because he deserves the “normal” sleep hours. ]
Make regular checks of the logbook. Make sure they’re making all required entries, preferably legibly. This comes up frequently during any regulatory inspection.
Maintenance records are an often-overlooked part of recordkeeping also. Many companies use specialized software for this purpose. It might be wise to ensure some backup record was kept, though–those specialized software programs have been known to be bugged, at least in my experience. This includes, by the way, safety inspections.
It would also be wise to save all “official” email correspondence.
The bottom line is, if you find yourself in a jam, good recordkeeping, a solid paperwork trail, can be the thing that saves your ass.
The chief mate and C/E both do a lot for me. In return if they need help, crew problem or need parts or supplies or whatever I give the problem my full attention and effort. . They take care of lots of small shit for me.
Good stuff there KC.
We are in a different trade but still have substantial paperwork for the size crew; We have an AB handle the garbage log for regular types of trash and engineer whatever he has that involves any oily refuse in addition to the ORB. I cross-check it weekly to put my name on it, but they don’t mind the responsibility helping out with making the entires. It could be a good way to get someone involved in situations where you have personalities that could use that stimulation.
Joe boss is good about having most of what we do electronically as company policy.
As others do, make a schedule. We have a spreadsheet for the year for weekly/monthly/quarterly drills forms etc we check off as they get done. With our workload being lower we get away with an annual one however adjust accordingly (monthly, quarterly).
Once again, even in my trade the binder is essential. I find it important to go through it and cull out the expired and obsolete nonsense every year or so. Like do we need 5 years worth of life raft inspection certificates? No…file the old ones away, if not throw them out. That’s where scanning them would be helpful for us.
[QUOTE=Capnklump;158588]I work for a sizable OSV operator in the gulf on a SOLAS DP2 vessel. I’ve been trying to get a handle on the load of paperwork the company puts on us. It’s relentless & seems overwhelming at times. Other than the normal statutory (USCG) paperwork like the masters logs, & keeping all the vessel docs up to date, there is SO MUCH more!! Ballast management, all the SOLAS stuff, GMDSS logs, garbage logs, cargo securing equipment, energy efficiency, environmental/VGP, believe me the list could go on & on. Then there is the DP paperwork, which actually is driven by more of an “as needed” basis, and all of the PMP stuff which we have through Preventer & is constanly coming up with stuff for us every single day. The good thing is I’m on a vessel with 4 bridge officers- 2 per watch, and I can delegate some to each so that it’s not too much on one person. I’ve been considering on making up some sort of spreadsheet on my computer to organize all of it so that nothing gets slipped through the cracks. I have never been accused of being the most organized individual in the world, or the gulf for that matter. How do you guys deal with this mountain of paperwork?[/QUOTE]
What I found works best for me, is making a list of everything due on a daily, weekly, monthly, quarterly, semi annual, and annual. Then I make list of each. that way, I know, what needs to be done every day, then every Sunday, Then every last two days of the month and so on. It works great for me, and I make sure nothing gets passed up. You can incorporate you drills, management meetings, safety alerts and inspections. You can do the same thing with email list as far as who gets what report and what form on daily, weekly, monthly basis as well.
First figure out which paper work you need to do to not get fined by regulatory. Second figure out what you need to do to not get fired. Anything after that stop doing and see if anyone notices. I’m betting that will cut your work load by half.
[QUOTE=z-drive;158605]Good stuff there KC.
We are in a different trade but still have substantial paperwork for the size crew; We have an AB handle the garbage log for regular types of trash and engineer whatever he has that involves any oily refuse in addition to the ORB. I cross-check it weekly to put my name on it, but they don’t mind the responsibility helping out with making the entires. It could be a good way to get someone involved in situations where you have personalities that could use that stimulation.
Joe boss is good about having most of what we do electronically as company policy.
As others do, make a schedule. We have a spreadsheet for the year for weekly/monthly/quarterly drills forms etc we check off as they get done. With our workload being lower we get away with an annual one however adjust accordingly (monthly, quarterly).
Once again, even in my trade the binder is essential. I find it important to go through it and cull out the expired and obsolete nonsense every year or so. Like do we need 5 years worth of life raft inspection certificates? No…file the old ones away, if not throw them out. That’s where scanning them would be helpful for us.[/QUOTE]
For expired documents we just shove them into a single folder, no need to sort them as you very rarely need to go back into it.
I am constantly being asked for copies of documents. As soon as I get a new document first thing I do is scan it. I file it using the same system as the plastic sleeve but with the expiration dates.(# 1 tonnage 2015-04-04) Then if someone asks for a copy instead of getting the binder down, pulling the doc and making a copy I go the the “docs” folder and print the saved scan.
[QUOTE=Kennebec Captain;158595]I sail deep-sea so I’m not sure how much is applicable;
C/M Ballast, cargo equipment
3/M Solas, garbage log
C/E Energy efficiency and environmental.
Two other time consuming tasks for me are payroll and port arrival documents.
[/QUOTE]
Ditto for the majority…I use a spreadsheet for my to-do list, so that I can break out different projects for tracking. For anyone who has never looked at project management theory, it’s worth a look. While we may never get into the nitty-gritty of of a work breakdown structure, we certainly use elements of project management every day.
Payroll and port documents can seriously eat into your time. Cochin, India as a first time call took close to 4 days of prep work once you count scanning and sending them documents ahead of time. And paper?! I had a full ream of documents (500 sheets!) printed out and organized on my desk for the various officials. Yes, ladies and gentlemen, I killed a tree. Crew documentation and payroll are other time and labor intense jobs. We just had a 7 person crew change in a rather remote port. 4-6 hours of prep for payoffs/sign-ons, a couple of hours to actually conduct them and then 8-12 hours of scanning and filing. And yes, somewhere in there navigation and weather are covered.
Is paperwork increasing? Absolutely. Are digital certificates and standardized forms coming anytime soon? Don’t hold your breath. Sit down, buckle in, warm up your scanner, put on your carpal tunnel brace and start working on that pile on your desk or in your inbox. It’s not going away.
[QUOTE=sailfaster;158618]First figure out which paper work you need to do to not get fined by regulatory. Second figure out what you need to do to not get fired. Anything after that stop doing and see if anyone notices. I’m betting that will cut your work load by half.[/QUOTE]
That just delays getting fired until after an audit.
With regard to the “getting things done” reference. If you are of a Mac persuasion you should check out Omnifocus ( https://www.omnigroup.com/omnifocus/ ) as a possible automated solution that is dedicated to task management in place of spreadsheet or plain checklists. Then again sometimes simple is better if the scope of your problem is not too big.
Actually this software comes in handy for the more important honey-do lists when you come home. Lets you collect tasks while away and then address them within their ‘contexts’ when time for action.
One thing I’m amazed at is the multiple approaches that exist within a single company, even a company with an ISM SMS in place that uses software or actually multiple pieces of software meant to standardize management. More often than not software that was just plainly improperly or poorly implemented and once released the view of the shoreside minions that “it must be perfect if we put it out”. The reluctance to improve it even though continuous improvement is the holy grail of ISM. Don’t ask guys on the ship though. Shouldn’t STCW have a section for technical ship management qualifications? Is it just the peter principle at work? That even those who appear qualified by virtue of some time at sea transform into nudniks when they get into ship management? Of course a big generalization but…when those ashore bring a daily professional approach to their jobs of supporting sea going personnel many manhours could be saved. My jaw drops many times in recent years when I see work being pawned off on ships crew that obviously would be better done once ashore than many times aboard each vessel. But ah, it was ever thus…
Thanks for the suggestions in this thread though, good food for thought and always opportunity to tweak ones own system.
X’s 2 down there in Brazil. It’s SO damned ridiculous.
[QUOTE=Kennebec Captain;158595]I sail deep-sea so I’m not sure how much is applicable;
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If you are not a good typist spending some time speeding up pays off big.[/QUOTE]
Best class I ever took in high school was typing. . . .made extra beer $$$ at school (a buck a page) and now with so much paperwork and the like being on computers? A truly invaluable skill. . . .
I have Mavis Beacon Teaches Typing for my Mac. I think I’ll re-visit it & give an hour a day or so. Definitely couldn’t hurt.
And middle school seems like forever ago…asdf jkl;
No looking down!
We shovel it over the side ounce a while.
