CA Audit Update 2023
Published: 29 August 2023
2023 CA BC 2-Day Audit on the YDSA Certifying Authority
On the 11th and 12th of July, 2023, the YDSA – CA had a scheduled annual audit with the External Monitoring team of the Maritime & Coastguard Agency.
Historically this audit has been completed in one day as well as it being conducted remotely over the last 3 years. However, the YDSA CA Team were informed a little earlier this year that the audit would take place on-site at the Glassworks; be over 2-days; need to include a vertical audit; and be moved up by 2.5 months over last years assessment.
As always, the administrative and technical team put in a huge effort in the weeks prior to the MCA visit on all the work required to prep for this important review. This along with consistent communication with the MCA Lead Auditor was key in making sure we were well equipped for this important assessment.
The MCA were represented by the Lead Auditor, a Surveyor, and an External Compliance Officer. The first day included an in-depth review of:
- Actions from previous BC meeting
- Actions from previous CA BCC meeting
- Areas to Note or Concerns:
- New or revised MCA documents
- Vessel Modifications
- CA management of Code Vessel incidents and accidents
- Quality Management Processes / Procedures
- Certification Process
- Scrutineers and Scrutineering Process
- Code Vessel Database
- CA Committee
The YDSA CA team responded to all enquires and requests informatively and with precision and the first day ended incredibly well.
On the second day Ben Sutcliffe-Davies joined the Team at the Glassworks to represent the YDSA-CA Committee as well as be an expert during the technical review portion of the audit.
Topics scheduled for the second day of the review included:
- Surveyor Appointment and Monitoring
- Vertical Contract Audits / Specialist Monitoring
- Stability Assessment and Approval
- Examination of vessel files, including stability approval and MLC
(Aside from the 11 vessels pre-selected, others were selected for sampling on the day)
- Tonnage Measurement Agreement
- Tonnage Measurer Qualification and Experience
- Procedures
- Case review of tonnage assessment
- MLC Annex
- Procedures
- Case review of MLC inspection
Once again, the CA Team were diligent and articulate in all information provided and questions answered.
At the end of the second day the MCA Lead Auditor reviewed the efforts and work put in over the last year as well as the course of the audit. She explained the Observations and Findings, all were minor and predominantly involved up-dating wording or minor changes to our Procedures Manuals. Most have already been completed by our team, the rest have a completion date of October. She outlined how well she thought the Audit went and thanked the YDSA CA team for all their hard work and diligence which was evident by the overall success of this audit.
On a personal note …. The YDSA – CA team did a phenomenal job during this audit, which included a huge amount of prep work prior to the review as well as keeping the CA functional while it was taking place. The result of their tenacity was an incredibly successful CA BC. Thank you all!
*On a side note, we’ve requested our next Audit take place during the time between Christmas and New Year 2024……..when we’re closed 😉
Karen Wilson, YBDSA CEO
