PRS S.A. supervises and assesses periodically the Safety Management System in order to verify that the Company, whose SMS has been certified, continues to comply with certification requirements. In the case of any doubts as to Company’s compliance with certification requirements, PRS S.A. may carry out an additional audit.
Annual periodical audit at Company’s office
The audit is conducted according to general principles and audit scope is set by the lead auditor on the basis of results of previous audits.
The annual audit at Company’s office aimed at confirmation of DOC validity is carried out once a year within three months before or after the DOC anniversary date.
Intermediate ship audit
The intermediate audit onboard ship aimed at confirmation of SMC validity is carried out between the second and the third SMC anniversary date if only one intermediate audit is conducted and the certificate validity is five years.
Renewal audit
The renewal audit, conducted with the purpose of verifying the effectiveness of SMS operation and its compliance with the ISM Code, is to be carried out before DOC or SMC expiry date. It is to be commenced not earlier than half a year before the certificate expiry date and not later than the certificate expiry date.
Additional audit
The additional audit may be carried out for the purpose of confirming DOC or SMC validity if major nonconformities have been disclosed, significant changes have been introduced to Company’s SMS or when the lead auditor finds that the number of nonconformities disclosed in the Company’s/ship system during the last audit proves that such audit is necessary.
Additional audit is also conducted in the case the Flag State surveyor, the Port State Control officer or PRS/other Classification Society surveyor finds during an inspection/a survey that technical deficiencies and/or nonconformities discovered onboard the ship prove that such audit is necessary.
Company responsibilities
The Company maintains its Safety Management System in conformity with the ISM Code requirements, as well as adheres to the requirements of PRS S.A. certification system.
In case of any changes introduced to the Safety Management System, the Company notifies immediately PRS S.A. thereof, in order these changes to be assessed.
The Company registers and maintains records related to its own Safety Management System.
The Company carries out corrective actions to remove any nonconformities and their causes and notifies PRS S.A. thereof.
The Company is obliged to render available means necessary for efficient performance of the audit.
Post-audit corrective actions
The Company is responsible for defining and initiating corrective actions necessary for closing nonconformities or their reasons. The Company is obliged to conduct corrective actions not later than within three months, except the cases when other due dates have been agreed.
The Company is obliged to inform PRS S.A. on dealing with corrective actions in due term. The assessment and acceptance of carried out corrective actions is made by the lead auditor during subsequent audit.
Where necessary, the Company should submit application for possible carrying out additional audit, verifying performance of corrective actions.
Dealing with major nonconformities
A major nonconformity raised on a ship should be downgraded to nonconformity before the ship sails. A schedule not exceeding three months should be agreed for completion of the necessary corrective actions.
Where decision has been made on downgrading a major nonconformity to nonconformity, at least one additional audit should be carried out within the time period indicated in the agreed corrective action plan in order to verify the effectiveness of corrective actions taken.
If a major nonconformity has not been downgraded, this constitutes a basis for withdrawal of DOC/SMC. In this case the auditor hands over Notification of ISM Certification Invalidation, to the Company representative/Shipmaster and advises PRS S.A. Head Office thereof.
Certificates withdrawal
The Document of Compliance and/or the Safety Management Certificate may be withdrawn in the following cases:
- corrective actions were not carried out at the agreed date,
- due annual periodical audit at Company’s office or intermediate ship audit has not been carried out,
- amendments to the ISM Code have not been taken into consideration in developing the Safety Management System,
- major nonconformities occurred, affecting people, ship or marine environment safety, which are considered by PRS S.A. a basis for certificate invalidation.
Additionally, the Safety Management Certificate may be withdrawn when:
- no valid Document of Compliance is available onboard ship,
- the ship’s class has not been renewed by PRS S.A. or other classification society acting in compliance with the requirements of IMO Resolution A.739 (18), Annex 1, Article 3,
- no valid statutory certificates are available onboard ship.
PRS S.A. requests withdrawal of relevant certificate to the Administration, on behalf of which the certificate has been issued.
In consequence of the Document of Compliance invalidation, all Safety Management Certificates, associated with DOC in question, are withdrawn.
The Document of Compliance or the Safety Management Certificate, the validity of which has expired or which has been withdrawn may be recovered only after reassessment of the Safety Management System carried out in accordance with the initial audit principles. New DOC/SMC is to have the same expiry date as the document invalidated.
PRS S.A. reserves for itself the right to suspend the issue of the certificate in the case the Company’s payment is delayed.