When was the last time we heard of OCIMF being taken to court for withdrawing a SIRE (vetting) inspector’s accreditation? Capt.A.Rashid v OCIMF [2019] might be the first one!
The inspector finished an inspection at 1700 hrs in Philadephia, followed by another in Nanticoke from 2100 (same day) till 1030 (next day), and 5 hrs later a 3rd insp. in Savannah. There were many other insp. like this where OCIMF regarded travel scenario as impossible. There was also an insp. which took 7.5 hrs to complete, and end timing for the inspection was wrongly entered.
SIRE guidelines states that guide time for a vetting inspection is 8-10 hrs. They are also required to complete the insp. report before commencing the next one, and should take into account their fatigue levels.
OCIMF's disciplinary committee alleged misconduct. There were also accusations (later dropped) of coercion of a crew member and failing to follow OCIMF guidelines.
Court found process of disciplinary hearings to be flawed as it did not look at whether the time spent onboard was sufficient to carry out an insp. Conducting one in under 8 hours and entering wrong timing cannot be categorized as misconduct. £126,841 were awarded to the inspector and court expected OCIMF to reinstate his accreditation.
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