A Day in the Life of a DNV Surveyor
by Julie Broberg
With a big thanks to Lee Kwang Won, Senior Surveyor, Singapore and Troels Møller, Surveyor, Aalborg, Denmark.
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| Sembawang Shipyard - Singapore |
Yes, they are indeed wearing boiler suits and hard hats, but they're more likely to have a little notebook stuffed in their pocket than they are to carry a clipboard. And in reality, because much of their job is a matter of delicate diplomacy, you'd almost expect them to be wearing a suit and carrying a briefcase. Negotiating time with various crew members onboard in order to conduct all of the necessary tests is one aspect of diplomacy. Another is exhibiting patience when things aren't ready at the time they thought they would be, which is often. Because it is a shipyard, after all and a drydocking is a major operation.
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| Ørskov Shipyard - Frederikshavn, Denmark |
8:30 Arrive at DNV site office at Frederikshavn Orskov Shipyard
9:00 Visit onboard the Sea Cougar begins. DNV Surveyor goes to the bridge to coordinate the day’s activities with the Captain and Chief Officer.
9:15 Load test of lifeboat cables
9:40 Conversations and planning with various parties onboard – service engineers, shipyard engineers, vessel crew.
10:00 Return to DNV site office to type out agreed schedule.
10:30 Steering gear tests begin.
12:00 Lunch in the mess with vessel crew
12:30 Up to the bridge to begin the testing of fire alarms. Assistance provided by Chief Officer and the ship’s Electrician
It is quickly apparent that the surveyor has to be quick and in good shape, as he hurries up and down the stairwells of the ship, ensuring that fire alarms on various decks are working as they should. It helps when those personnel onboard the vessel who he is working with are extremely competent and know the ship like the back of their hand.
The electrician onboard the Sea Cougar was very good at his job and extremely helpful to DNV surveyor Troels Møller in accomplishing all of the tests quickly and efficiently. He could answer any question Troels had for him and showed himself to be a top professional.
In between tests, there is a lot of discussion regarding the sea trial, which will happen on the weekend and how best to handle the remaining tests that need to take place before the vessel completes the drydocking.
It sounds like a surveyor’s job can be quite unpredictable and his weekends may not always be his own. A ship may enter dry dock on a weekend and that means that the surveyor has to crawl around in tanks and do all of the initial inspections necessary before a drydocking begins. The ship may leave drydock on the weekend as well, necessitating all of the final testing is in place before it sails. This isn’t always predictable, so an important quality a surveyor must have is flexibility.
14:30 Testing resumes in the engine room. Tests range from low tech physical tests of whether ventiles can open to high tech tests of optical sensors on a 15ppm separator.
17:00 All of the tests that can be done are completed and the surveyor and the Maritime Magazine reporter head back to the site office to hang up hard hats and boiler suits and head home for the day.
There were several striking things about the day for this reporter. One is that the job has an enormous amount of variety. It’s physical, mental, technical, intellectual and social. A Surveyor is technician and diplomat rolled into one. He (or she) spends a lot of time waiting, so there is a need for patience and flexibility. There is also a need to be in very good physical condition.
This reporter was impressed with the safety consciousness of all personnel involved, from the Surveyor to ships’ officers and crew to the third-party technicians and workers from the shipyard who were onboard. A good safety culture pervaded every activity and working area on the ship. People wore protective clothing and used safety equipment consequently. It was truly heartening to observe.
Naming and listing everything a surveyor does is difficult because there is so much, but it all comes back to relationships and talking to people onboard. It’s how plans are made, issues uncovered and solved and good working relationships established. I was impressed how much the DNV Surveyor was an integrated, respected member of the team while we were onboard. And that’s to everyone’s advantage when the goal is a safe, efficient, well-running operation for all concerned.
