Additional measures needed to support Marine Services through staffing challenge

Orkney Islands Council is to consider what additional measures can be taken to support the work of Marine Services, as they look to overcome significant staffing challenges.

A recent external audit of the service has found that, with a number of pieces of development work still outstanding, the harbour authority is not currently fully compliant with the Port Marine Safety Code.

This follows on from an earlier report, which recommended a 27 point action plan to maintain full compliance.

The audit is clear that insufficient staff capacity continues to be a key issue for the service and its ability to deliver those outstanding requirements.

With actions remaining outstanding the Chair of the Harbour Authority Sub-Committee will now write to the MCA to advise them of the situation and of the challenges being faced.

The Port Marine Safety Code (the Code) sets out a national standard for every aspect of port marine safety. Its aim is to enhance safety for everyone who uses or works in the UK port marine environment. It is endorsed by the UK Government, the devolved administrations and representatives from across the maritime sector and, while the Code is not statutory, MCA best practice sets an expectation that all harbour authorities will comply.

Councillor David Dawson is Chair of the Council's Harbour Authority Sub-Committee. He said: "We acknowledge the need for improvement in most of the areas raised by the audit.  As a committee we are clear that the service is working hard to meet the requirements, but in basic terms we simply don't have the people in post to complete all the work that needs doing and we are at the point where Orkney Islands Council as a whole needs to look at where more support can be put in to support our colleagues in the harbours team.

"Recruitment challenges are a devil we face across the whole organisation, but no more so that in Marine Services where the challenges are quite specific.

"The marine industry is very buoyant at present, particularly given the emergence of the offshore wind industry, and there is a plethora of job opportunities out there for master mariners and seagoing staff. As a local authority - tied into local authority pay scales - it is difficult for us to compete for staff on what is an entirely unlevel playing field.

"Support has been sought from an specialised recruitment agency and this is giving us some light at the end of the tunnel.  We've also worked hard as an organisation to find ways of closing the pay gap, but this merely puts us closer, we cannot match what is being offered in the private sector.

"In recent months we have been able to take in some short term support to bolster our hard working team - and it is this avenue which I feel we should continue to explore as an organisation, in terms of the support systems that are being put in place."