Published on Australian Maritime Safety Authority (https://www.amsa.gov.au)
Undertaking simple, regular vessel and safety-equipment checks, and logging them while you do it, can help prevent small problems from becoming dangerous and expensive incidents. Under the National Law, it’s a legal requirement to have, and document, a regular programme of maintenance and inspection activities.
Read on to discover:
Having a maintenance plan helps you prevent dangerous and expensive incidents. Under the National Law, it’s a legal requirement to have, and document, a regular programme of maintenance and inspection activities.
By outlining a preventive maintenance plan, small problems can be caught before they turn into big failures and costly repairs.
Maintaining equipment and keeping it operating in good condition may extend its operational time, so it won’t need to be replaced as often which can help save you money.
There is less chance of equipment failure which could harm someone or cause damage to other equipment.
Involve your crew in developing and implementing a maintenance plan, as well as undertaking preventative maintenance tasks.
Unexpected machinery and equipment failures or accompanying crew injury can put your vessel out of operation, and you out of business.
The regular checking and logging of vessel structure, critical systems, machinery and equipment, including safety equipment, is key to a safe, secure and legally compliant operation for owners, operators, crew and passengers alike.
DID YOU KNOW?
Recent incidents have demonstrated the potentially serious consequences a lack of effective maintenance poses to the safe operation of vessels.
There are also many DCVs with overdue periodic surveys. Another key element of a vessel’s maintenance plan is the management of its certification, and this includes ensuring that, where applicable, the vessel undergoes periodic surveys within the timeframes set out in Marine Order 503 – Certificates Of Survey – National Law.
Marine Order 504 requires that a vessel’s safety management system (SMS) include a system of regular programmed inspection and maintenance appropriate for the vessel, its machinery and equipment.
What you include in your maintenance plan will depend on your vessel. It’s important to take into account manufacturers’ recommendations and keep a record of your regular inspections and maintenance.
Include regular checks of your safety equipment in your maintenance plan. For example:
Consider your critical systems on board including fuel, electrical, propulsion, steering, communication, navigation, bilge pumping arrangements, anchoring and sewage:
Don’t wait until survey or inspection time to check these essential systems. You are responsible for ensuring your vessel meets the National Law requirements and is always safe.
Inspections are key to your maintenance plan. Things break or wear out on boats constantly and having a system to quickly record the defect and follow up to make sure it is addressed is an important part of a maintenance plan. This could be part of your daily pre-start check.
A lot of operators already have a good, planned maintenance system in place but fail to have a process to capture and record that maintenance.
AMSA has provided a template of a maintenance plan log sheet as an example of what you could use (Link).
Consider undertaking smaller pieces of maintenance more often, rather than trying to do everything at once. When documented, regular smaller maintenance activities can be reviewed to identify patterns, machinery, or systems with higher risks of failure, faulty or poor-quality parts etc.
Safety equipment such as flares and first aid kits are not always readily available especially in more remote townships and operators need to order well in advance. Seasonal weather can also disrupt supply and availability of equipment and spare parts.
We've created some examples of the types of documentation you might use with your maintenance plan, including:
Use the resources in this section to learn more about safety management and maintenance.