Offshore staff
HOUSTON – Bureau Veritas Certification has received provisional accreditation as an official Safety and Environmental Management Systems (SEMS) audit service provider for the Center for Offshore Safety (COS).
Originally introduced as recommended practice RP 75 in 1990, the SEMS standard has since evolved into a set of mandatory regulations under the management of the Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement (BSEE) and the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM). According to BSEE, SEMS must be used by operators as a foundation for their offshore business operations.
The latest iteration of the SEMS safety framework, SEMS II, represents the current thinking from the offshore industry, regulators, and other influential stakeholders, and demonstrates an increased focus on issues related to human behavior. SEMS II puts forth new requirements pertaining to stop work authority and ultimate work authority, employee participation plans, job safety analyses, and guidelines for reporting unsafe working conditions. The new rule also requires that SEMS programs be audited by accredited third-party audit service providers.
“The addition of the SEMS accreditation service to the Bureau Veritas portfolio ideally positions us to provide audit services to offshore operators in the Gulf of Mexico and help them ensure all mandatory safety rules and regulations are being enforced,” said Greg Gordillo, SEMS product manager, Bureau Veritas Certification.
5/17/2013
