Company Operational Manual COM 2.8 Document management and Control	Doc No.: COM 2.8 Revision: 1 Date: 15 Oct 2024 Issued by: DPA Approved by: MD

1. APPLICATION

This document applies to all employees and contracted personnel in the company.

2. PURPOSE

The purpose of this document is to outline instructions for the management and control of the Company Management System (CMS).

3. DOCUMENT TYPES

3.1 General

• The term "document" is used to denote any written or electronically stored information.
• The Company recognises two types of document that are used as part of normal operation viz. governing documents and reference documents.

3.2 Governing documents

• Documents produced by the Company.
• Basis for administration and work execution i.e. CMS Documents.
• Shall be subject to document control.
• Types of CMS documents are detailed in Section 4 below.

3.3 Reference documents

• Documents used but not made by Company, such as classification rules, statutory rules and regulations, standards, codes, laws, drawings, plans, instruction manuals, etc.
• Procedures are included in the CMS detailing requirements for collecting, filing (library), distribution and updating of such documents.

4. CMS DOCUMENTS

4.1 Document types

• Policy: High level guiding principles and intentions setting a standard, and serving as basis for a specific course of action.
• Procedure: The outline of specific actions to be performed, identifying what is to be done by whom at what time, i.e. when.
• Process chart: Illustration of interlinked actions constituting a specific process, often used as basis for, or to supplement procedures.
• Instruction: Detailed description of how to carry out a specific task.
• Appendix: Mandatory information on detailed level, normally referenced from a procedure.
• Guideline: The non-mandatory outline of how a specific task may be performed, normally referenced from a procedure.
• Circular: To provide any information to Company personnel which may have the potential to improve Company’s safety and operational excellence. The validity of such documents is of shorter duration as compared to main procedural documents.
• Job Description: Specification of functions and duties associated with specific positions in the company.
• Operating Manuals: Compilation of relevant procedures, instructions and associated documents relevant for the performance of specific tasks.
• Check Lists: Standardised, detailed and sequential listing of tasks to be carried out, normally supplementing procedures and instructions.
• Forms and Reports: Standardised method of documenting that specific actions have been carried out, in some cases also including status information.

5. DOCUMENT MANAGEMENT AND CONTROL

• The governing documents on-board and ashore for the administration, operation and work execution are CMS Documents.
• Only documents contained within the system and in accordance with the latest revision date as per CMS Index shall be used.

Warning:

• Unauthorised editing and usage of documents outside of the system is strictly forbidden.
• Documents are reviewed and approved by designated personnel according to CMS Index and COM 2.14 Management of Change.
• The HSSEQ department shall distribute documents in a controlled manner.
• Changes to documents are subject to change control as per COM 2.14 Management of Change.
• When changes to the CMS are made, the section affected will be reproduced with the date of the change and revision status marked in the footer of the page.
• The Head of Department, HSSEQ shall verify that changes to documents are made in accordance with the system requirements detailed in this document.
• Document reviewers and approvers are responsible for ensuring that procedures are up to date to satisfy operational requirements.

Note:

• Documents shall, as a minimum, be reviewed and approved on annual basis as part of the Company Management System review.
• Invalid documents and publications shall be discarded.

6. RETENTION AND DISPOSAL OF DOCUMENTS

• Documents and certificates with a specific period of validity are to be destroyed upon becoming invalid and or replaced with new ones.
• Class and statutory survey reports or correspondence, maintenance and inspection records and all official logbooks shall be filed in accordance with FOM 2.3 Filing Index – Ship.
• All other documents, letters, faxes, telexes, records, reports, etc. shall be kept on file for at least three years from the date of issue.
• Files shall be discarded when their specified holding periods have expired.
• The Heads of Department are responsible for their respective areas.
• The company has engaged a vendor to destroy confidential documents. A receipt is being issued by the vendor and retained by the Purchase dept.

7. FILING & DISTRIBUTION

7.1 Filing index

• Filing is to be done in accordance with the file index filing index – Office.
• Extra sub-file numbers may be allocated as necessary.
• Filing shall be done on designated network drives.

8. CMS IMPLEMENTATION

8.1 General

• The CMS shall be implemented at all levels of the Company and across all Business Areas.
• The Executive team, Heads of the Department and Team Leaders shall implement the CMS within their respective areas.
• Respective change owner of the documents shall monitor the effectiveness of the CMS implementation as part of the periodical management review and propose actions as necessary.

8.2 Vessel Management Requirements

• New vessels joining the fleet will be given about 3 months to implement the CMS onboard.
• As far as possible, the joining senior officers should have been with Company before and be familiar with the CMS.
• An internal onboard audit should be done about 3 months after the takeover of the vessel.
• External audit be arranged after the internal audit and as far as possible a Master's review should have been done.

9. AUTHORING, REVIEW AND APPROVAL OF DOCUMENTS

• All documents within the CMS shall be assigned an “author”.
• Authors shall always be a department and never be assigned to a sole person, function, role or other title.
• Documents shall be authored under the oversight of that department’s Head of Department.
• Heads of the Department shall be nominated as “reviewers” of the document.
• The role of the reviewer is to verify accuracy, content and overall quality of the document being authored.
• The reviewer is also responsible in ensuring that information within the document, which affects other departments or business areas, is communicated to and agreed with other Heads of Department.
• All documents shall be approved by nominated approvers.
• Within the CMS, all approvers shall be HSSEQ members approving documents within their own division.
• Approvers shall ensure that all information within the document is aligned with the Company’s Vision, Mission, Core Values, Code of Conduct, Company policies and overall Company strategy.
• The MD is solely responsible for approving all policy documents.
• Head of Department, HSSEQ is responsible for ensuring that all documents within the CMS comply with the system philosophy.

10. REVISION OF CMS DOCUMENTS

10.1 General

• Each document page shall contain a date of issue and revision.
• Documents that are formally authored, reviewed and approved, shall contain numbered revisions starting with zero i.e. 0, 1, 2, etc. These documents are considered “final” and ready for use.
• Documents that are being drafted and not ready for use shall be use phonetic characters in lieu of numbers for revisions to distinguish them from final documents i.e. A, B, C, etc.
• Highlighted changes shall be removed at the next revision cycle.
• The introduction of new forms and appendices shall prompt a change to its referenced procedure.
• Suggestion for revisions, amendments and improvement will be done by inserting a comment to the respective document in CMS.

Note:

• In any case DSM/ CMS t is not working, suggestion for revision, amendments and improvement will be done by submitting A27 "Change Management System Revision Request" to HSSEQ in accordance with COM 2.14 Management of Change.
• HSSEQ department is responsible for monitoring and controlling the management of change system revision process.

10.2 Revision cycles

• The Company has adopted a quarterly revision cycle starting from 15 December each year.
• Deadlines for submission of revisions shall be done no later than 1 month prior to the next cycle.
• Exemptions to the above shall only be done at the discretion of the Chief Technical Officer (CTO).

11. REFERENCE DOCUMENTS

• The respective departments shall have a list of such documents used by the company in the office and onboard with the latest editions, distribution, and location indicated.
• Latest edition, validity, etc. shall be checked annually by respective departments, contacting authorities, IMO, publishers, or suppliers, etc.

12. CIRCULARS AND ALERTS

• Circulars and alerts supplement CMS procedures and are issued with the aim of broadcasting the following information to the managed fleet:
• Revisions to CMS.
• Sharing of information on measurement and analysis of company and/or fleet performance such as – management review, ship-shore drills, statutory inspections, near miss reporting.
• Incident/injury which occurred on own managed vessel.
• Industrial experience feedback on major incident or injury i.e. on other vessels outside the company Group..
• Cargo operations matters requiring urgent attention by specific type of vessels.
• Security bulletins.
• Technical alerts such as on machinery failure or feedback from maker of particular machinery.
• Any other information relevant to health, safety, environment, quality, security, Statutory regulations as published by recognized organizations or P&I clubs.

Note:

• The list is non-exhaustive and focus is given to any information which has potential to improve company’s safety and operational excellence in line with Health, Safety, Security, Environment and Quality policies.
• Circulars and alerts shall, as far as possible, make reference to the procedures which they supplement.
• If circulars and alerts contain new or differing requirements to existing procedures, then those procedures shall be tagged for a management of change which shall be published at the next revision cycle.
• Authoring, review, approval, and distribution of circulars and alerts shall be done in accordance with CMS Procedures.
• HSSEQ department is responsible for the distribution of all circulars and alerts.

13. FLAG STATE CIRCULARS

• Flag circulars are incorporated in CMS Portal with Link for each respective Flag. These circulars are being Updated on monthly basis by HSSEQ dept.
• The alerts and guidelines will be uploaded in HSSEQ SMS software beforehand to ensure ship and shore staff are able to access it once the circular is sent out on monthly basis via email.
• HSSEQ department is responsible for the distribution of all flag state circulars.

14. VESSELS LEAVING THE FLEET

• Collect and remove all CMS documents, records, and other statutory certificates upon termination of the management of a vessel.
• Send back to company office. Refer to A17 form.

15. IMPLEMENTATION

15.1 Primary system – CMS

• CMS is assigned as the primary means of SMS document control in the office and onboard Company-managed vessels.
• All the elements of SMS (policies, procedures, forms, ship-shore/shore-ship reports, posters, circulars, alerts, etc.) are available live and latest on CMS portal.
• User guidance is available for vessels in form of PDF file for familiarization on using CMS at all times.
• Officers are trained at various manning agencies offices on use of CMS.
• Documents from CMS can be printed for reference, reading, and training. However, the printed pages shall be treated as “UNCONTROLLED”
• Any malfunction in CMS system shall be reported to below email id TO: HSSEQ & DPA

15.2 Secondary system – Soft Folder based SMS

• HSSEQ dept will send the latest version of all documents and forms as of 31st Dec of every calendar year to all vessels.
• The SMS content shall be uploaded on LAN server on board and made accessible on LAN PCs.
• Revision/amendments to SMS documents shall be promulgated by CMS circulars and attachments indicating “CHANGES” in highlighted text.
• All the circulars and attachments shall be printed and filed.
• Circulars shall also be saved in LAN server/common drive in folder for ease of reference by all staff.
• In case of failure of CMS Portal based SMS– reference shall be made to SMS folder in conjunction with circular file.

15.3 For vessels entering into Vessel Management for the first time

• HSSEQ department shall supply a soft copy of CMS during taking over of technical management either in yard-new building or from another management company.

16. ACCESS MANAGEMENT

• The company uses CMS as custodian of all documents which is always updated with the latest version of all documents.
• Offline access is made available to all vessels which enables the user onboard vessel to access the latest version of documents at all times regardless of internet connection.
• Online access is made available to all office staff which enables user to access the latest version of documents only when the user is connected to the internet.
• Management has recognized unforeseen circumstances where office or vessel staff may not be able to access the latest version of document therefore a period of 30 days is permitted as transition period where former version can be accepted as compliance.

17. DOCUMENT CONTROL

• CMS shall be referred to for the purpose of obtaining the latest version of documents.
• Reference shall be made to FOM 2.3A Forms Filing and Distribution for verification that latest version of forms, checklists is being used.
• Any obsolete document beyond the period of 30 days as allowed for entry into force shall be declined by office reported party.
• All documents used in the execution of company objectives shall be controlled. Any documents which are not a part of the TMS shall be approved by the BU Managing Director.

18. REFERENCED FORMS AND CHECKLISTS

• A27 – Change management system revision request form

19. APPENDICES

• COM 2.10 Standard ship safety signs
• FOM 2.3A Forms Filing and Distribution