Introducing SIRE 2.0: A new approach to ship vetting

Launched by the Oil Companies International Marine Forum (OCIMF) in 1993, the Ship Inspection Report Programme (SIRE) is a safety initiative with the aim of ensuring that standards expected by Oil Majors are maintained in the shipping industry.

Since its conception, the programme has been based upon a standardised inspection questionnaire and is considered to have been an effective driver in improving safety management on tankers.

The key changes

The current SIRE programme uses a standardised questionnaire, whereas SIRE 2.0 will be based upon a risk-based questionnaire which will be tailored to the risk profile of individual vessels.

The bespoke inspection will be created by an algorithm that selects questions from the comprehensive ‘SIRE 2.0 question library’. Vessel owners, operators and crew will not be able to predict which questions will be asked during the inspection.

The questions asked during the inspections concern four key areas:

Core – these questions relate to significant risks onboard a vessel as identified by OCIMF and will be assigned to all inspections where relevant to the inspected vessel.

Rotational – the questions generated by the algorithm will be rotated to ensure that non-core questions will be covered over a period of time.

Conditional – specific questions based on vessel information, such as ship-type, area of operation etc.

Campaign – areas of specific focus from OCIMF and its membership. This is a similar to Port States conducting targeted inspection campaigns on specific equipment of areas of operation.  

The human element

SIRE 2.0 has been developed to integrate human factors into the inspection process. This is a step-change in the inspection process which has historically been focused on management processes and hardware rather than human factors.

One of the main areas how SIRE 2.0 will incorporate human factors is how physical, psychological and social factors affect human interaction with equipment, processes, and other people. This is achieved by assessing Performance Influencing Factors (PIF). These are factors that make human errors more or less likely to occur, such as poor workplace design, time pressure or workload. Inspectors will be prepared with a human response toolkit. For each question which is associated with Performance Influencing Factors, the inspector will be asked to provide objective responses to nine areas. These areas cover a variety of factors relating to human errors such as accessibility and usefulness of procedures, human- machine interfaces or the opportunity to learn or practice.

The inspection process also aims to look beyond human error and dig deeper into the actions and decisions taken by crew.

The new inspection regime will also significantly expand the depth and quality of data gathered during inspections. This can enable a comprehensive assessment of the quality of a vessel and its crew.

Inspection technology

SIRE 2.0 inspections will be completed on a tablet device, which can allow a greater level of input when compared to the existing paper-based questionnaire. Upon identifying a non-compliance item, the inspector will provide an assessment on the observation, including if it was due to a breakdown of equipment, procedures or human factors.  The tablet will provide the inspector with an additional information, such as pre-inspection information and details of observations recorded in previous inspections of the vessel. This will assist the inspector in compiling a more objective assessment of the vessel.

Find out more

Go to the OCIMF website at: https://www.ocimf.org/programmes/sire-2-0