Harbours action plan improvements well underway – but staffing remains a challenge

Work is well underway to address issues raised in a recent safety audit of operations at Orkney’s harbours – but lack of staff to carry out this important work continues to present challenges.

Members at today’s (23 May 2023) meeting of Orkney Islands Council’s Harbours sub-committee heard that a 27 point action plan is being worked through to address the issues raised.

The action plan follows on from a recent Port Marine Safety Code audit, carried out in November last year, which recommended that a number of pieces of work should be carried out by Marine Services in order to improve upon safe practices within Orkney’s piers and harbours.

This included reviewing the safety procedures for the general public when accessing Orkney’s harbour areas, reviewing the port handbook and a review of mooring procedures.

Some of those recommendations were carried over from previous audit reports.

The accompanying action plan showed that actions are well in hand and expected to be addressed by the end of this year.

The report highlighted that a key issue facing the service – and its capacity to make the improvements needed – is lack of staff, including in senior roles within the service.

At the time of the audit, four senior roles within the service were vacant.

Three of those remain vacant, with previous rounds of recruitment having failed to attract sufficient applicants. A specialist recruitment agency has now been taken on to carry out a further search for suitable candidates.

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 mandatory, these bodies have a strong expectation that all harbour authorities will comply.

Councillor David Dawson is Chair of the Harbours Sub-Committee. He said: "Giving the auditors access to our operations in this way – and openly and honestly publishing those findings -  places our teams under intense scrutiny. Our entire Marines Services team - shoreside, back office and those at sea - are working incredibly hard under very difficult circumstances to stay on top of an immense workload and provide safe harbour operations - and I have full confidence that they are achieving this.

“There are recognised issues that we need to work through though and what this audit report has given us is a tool for future improvements.  Two key thorny areas that have arisen are the challenges presented by staffing shortages and also the challenges presented by historic 'custom and practice' and the changes we need to make there, in partnership with the public and harbour users. Both of these will take time, staff and resources to work through - and I give my full backing and confidence to the team in their ability to do this.”