Nominations are now being accepted for the International Marine Contractors Association’s (IMCA) 2020 Awards program. IMCA launched its Awards program in 2018 to recognize the activities of its Members in the areas of Safety and Environmental Sustainability. This year they are including a special COVID-19 category.
Safety lies at the heart of IMCA’s work, the association’s Chief Executive, Allen Leatt is proud to describe it as: “The golden thread running through everything that we do”. Environmental sustainability is one of two key strategic themes for IMCA (the other being digitalization). COVID-19 has had a major impact on all aspects of our lives, personal and professional and continues to impact all industries worldwide.
Allen Leatt, explained:
“Since launching our awards program in 2018 we have received entries showcasing a wide range of initiatives from our Members and I look forward to seeing this year’s submissions. 2020 has been a challenging year so far for our industry however, these awards present an opportunity to promote some of the positive elements of our industry and development work that is happening on a regular basis. This year has brought new challenges and our members have risen to those challenges with new solutions.”
IMCA was scheduled to present the awards at its flagship Annual Seminar in London in October, however in view of the combination of challenges caused by both the pandemic and the economic issues its members are facing, they have postponed their event until 2021. This year’s winners will be announced in November, and presentation of the Awards will take place at the first suitable opportunity.
Special Category for 2020
This year IMCA is inviting its members to share details of initiatives developed to specifically address key issues brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic, therefore introducing a third category for nominations – COVID-19 Pandemic Initiatives.
Judging Panel and Criteria
The Judging Panel for the awards comprises two representatives from the IMCA Board of Directors, the Chairman or Vice Chairman of the HSSE Committee, the Chairman or Vice Chairman of the Environmental Sustainability Committee and relevant members of the IMCA Secretariat. To ensure impartiality, the final members of the judging panel will be confirmed once all submissions have been received.
The Environmental Sustainability Award will be assessed on such matters as the scale of environmental benefit; innovation; commitment of the workforce; social and economic benefits; quantification of the improvements; and the possibilities for future development and entries certainly brought out many of these criteria.
For the Safety Award the criteria include visibility and promotion of safety with the workforce; successful adoption and buy-in; improvement in safety behaviors; improved safety performance; and the possibilities for future development.
The criteria relating to entries in the COVID-19 Pandemic initiatives category should include a demonstrable benefit through the development of a new, or adaptation of an existing product or system, in support of medical treatment or medical services; protective equipment, adapting existing or developing new methodology, ways of working or systems in light of the pandemic
Full details of criteria, timeline and how to submit entries are available here.
PREVIOUS WINNERS
Environmental Sustainability Award
2019 – Subsea 7 and Eidesvik – ‘Hybrid Life of Field Vessel Seven Viking’
2018 – TechnipFMC’s Marine Operation Services – ‘Eliminating use of single use plastics’
Safety Award
2019 - Heerema – ‘Tug Barge Access Gangway (T-BAG)’.
2018 –Joint winners: MMA – ‘Target 365: A perfect day every day’; and Subsea 7 for ‘Driving IMCA’s Resilience Awareness Programme’
