You may or may not have heard of them before but our Risk Advisory and Assurance Service (RAAS) team, have roots stemming all the way back to the Titanic – read on to find out more…
Here’s where it all began…
Here’s where it all began…The time of Maritime RAAS began at 11.40 pm on April 14 1912, when the Titanic struck an iceberg in the middle of the Atlantic. By 2:20 on 15 April the ship had sunk and moved into history with the loss of over 1500 lives.
It took a further 4 years to implement the International Convention on the Safety of Life at Sea (SOLAS). It was, and still is today, an international maritime treaty which sets out the minimum safety standards in construction, equipment and operation of Merchant Ships.
SOLAS has been amended over the years, and in 1998 a new chapter was introduced and the International Safety Management (ISM) Code was made mandatory. The Code, in its simplest form when applied to all ships, has 12 Sections. Section 12 sets out the remit and requirement for the Maritime Audit Team of Risk Advisory and Assurance Service (RAAS) of Carnival Corporation & PLC.
Fast forward to today…
Our RAAS team consists of approximately 26 people (5 Directors and 21 Mangers) 3 of whom work within Carnival House here in Southampton. It’s their job to conduct an internal audit of each of our ships in the company and each head office, every year.
Our Maritime Auditors in RAAS are not brand specific though and therefore audit all ships for the Carnival group – that’s a lot of ships for such a small team! The ISM Code states that the internal auditors must be independent of the areas being audited and so they report straight in to the Corporate Office, Miami to the Vice President of Maritime Audits. Through him they then report to the Heath, Environment, Safety and Security (HESS) Board of Carnival Corporation & PLC.
To give you a sense of what they do on board, each ship is audited by a team of 3 auditors. The team will have a mixture of backgrounds including Master Mariners and Deck Officers, Chief Engineers and Engineering Officers, Naval Architects and Marine Surveyors and they will visit the ship for between 7 and 10 days. During the audit, every department is visited and assessed.
At the end of each audit, a report is made to the Senior Leadership Team and Operational Team on board which highlights any issues discovered by the team. This is then discussed further at an Audit Review Committee attended by various shore side Heads of Department who work in with ship’s company to address any issues.
The other important part of their work is Risk Advisory and Assurance; this means they also partner CUK, helping with process development and compliance monitoring. As an example, they have been involved in Cyber-Risk Management which will become part of the ISM Code in January 2021.
Colin Nugent, Director – Head of Maritime Audit Services, said “We love our job and the opportunity to work with the crews and office staff of all Carnival companies; we learn something new every day and are always available for a chat or simply to ask questions on your behalf! We’re located on the first floor at the front of the building near the Care team, so please come and find us for a chat.