All UK registered commercial vessels under 24 metres Load Line Length which operate at sea must comply with, and be certificated against, one of the following Codes of Practice:
| Important! Workboat Code, Edition 2 came into force on 1 January 2019. There are substantial differences which will affect older vessels coming into Code for the first time. PLEASE CONTACT US BEFORE YOU CONSIDER PURCHASING A VESSEL TO USE AS A WORKBOAT EVEN IF IT HAS BEEN PREVIOUSLY ISSUED WITH A CERTIFICATE. |
Paul Johnson is authorised and approved by the SCMS Certifying Authority as an examiner, scrutineer, stability scrutineer and scrutineer for plan approvals.
We offer the following inspections on Code vessels:
| Compliance Inspection | This inspection is the first inspection of a commercial vessel and is carried out by an Authorised Person (a surveyor). At least part of this inspection must be carried out with the vessel out of the water. |
| During this inspection the Document of Compliance (usually called the SCV2 or SWB2 depending on which Code is being used) is filled out. The Document of Compliance is used to determine whether or not the vessel complies with the relevant Code. | |
| The stability of the vessel will be checked as part of the compliance inspection. | |
| Annual Inspection | An Annual Inspection is carried out 3 months either side of the Anniversary date and must be no more that 15 months from the previous inspection. |
| The annual inspection is carried out by an Authorised Person or the owner/managing agent depending on the Code being used and the type of vessel involved. | |
| The Annual Inspection confirms that the vessel is still compliant with the relevent Code. | |
| Mid Term Inspection | Most Codes require that a Mid Term Inspection is carried out by an Authorised Person no more than 36 months from the compliance date. Some Codes require that this inspection is carried out with the vessel out of the water. |
| If this inspection is not carried out within 36 months of the due date then the Code Certificate may be suspended and then cancelled. | |
| Renewal Inspection | The Renewal Inspection is carried out before the expiry of the current Certificate (usually 5 years after the compliance date). At least part of this inspection must be carried out with the vessel out of water. |
| Stability | All Codes require the vessel to have gone through some sort of stability assessment. This ranges from a simple method (eg Heel Test) to a full Stability Information Book. |
| Once the stability has been assessed it is only re-assessed if the vessel is modified or vessel use changes (eg change in passenger numbers, fitting or changing a crane or engine change). |
We are also able to offer inspections under the Maritime Labour Convention and to conduct Tonnage Measurements for Registration purposes as part of the Code inspections noted above.
The number of inspections on Code vessels we have carried out to date (end November 2019):
| Code | Compliance & Renewal | Annual & Mid Term |
| Nominated Departure | 3 | 2 |
| Small Commercial Vessel | 202 | 166 |
| Workboat | 153 | 296 |
| Police Boat | 112 | 242 |
If you would like us to give a quotation for carrying out an inspection on your commercial vessel then please fill out the Quotation form. We aim to respond with a price by the end of the next working day.
