Drum Cussac has been awarded ISO/PAS 28007 certification by global management system certifier, LRQA; an accolade reserved for private maritime security companies which demonstrate excellence in the provision of privately-contracted security personnel to commercial vessels.
This places the U.K.-based global business risk management company among an elite group of private maritime security providers who meet the stringent guidelines that set the benchmark for regulatory compliance, professionalism and quality.
The Chief Executive Officer of Drum Cussac, Andrew Littlejohns, speaking after the award ceremony to present the certification to the company, said he was delighted to accept the ISO, noting that it marked the culmination of two years of huge effort by his staff: "This is yet another critical step in the development of, and continuous improvement at, Drum Cussac, not just in the area of maritime security, but across our business, as we continue to serve some of the largest companies in the World," said Littlejohns.
"There is a unique aspect to this certification which is that the ISO 28007 does not just certify the delivery of maritime security services on vessels by Drum Cussac, but also covers the delivery of the risk management consultancy and services to oil and gas companies as they conduct their seismic and drilling explorations."
David Derrick, LRQA's Business Centre Manager said, "Certification to the ISO 28000 and ISO/PAS 28007 standards clearly shows that Drum Cussac has made a firm commitment in demonstrating its professionalism to ship owners and managers. In meeting the rigorous requirements of these standards, the organisation has shown its commitment to customer service, quality, safety and risk management processes."
Management system assessors from LRQA scrutinised the implementation of Drum Cussac's established combined management systems over a period of five months by visits to their Head Office, training establishment and in-country operational locations, to assess whether the company met the strict requirements of the standards.
"When Lloyd’s Register came to do both our Stage 1 and Stage 2 audits they analysed how Drum Cussac operates," explained David Fletcher, Drum Cussac's Maritime Compliance and Standards Manager.
"They reviewed the training, vetting and selection of our personnel; our operational procedures for deploying team members onto vessels, and the financial stability of our organisation. They verified that we had sufficient insurance coverage in place, and a continual improvement cycle, which enabled us to record what we were doing, learn from what we were doing and then improve what we were doing."
The Director of Maritime at Drum Cussac, Charlotte Tinworth, said the company was able to demonstrate part of the continual improvement by the use of its own in-house auditors, who perform regular inspections of the Drum Cussac security teams on board vessels; the port agents; operating bases and the logistic support vessels.
"Ongoing evaluation is at the heart of our day to day management system. It is how we operate. It is our HSSE; it is our risk assessments; it is our lifeblood. It is what we do at Drum Cussac," stressed Charlotte. "Our in-house auditors not only ensure that we are working within the parameters of the ISO, but also that we are continually improving our practices."
Drum Cussac executives were involved in crafting the requirements of ISO PAS 28007, which focuses purely on the provision of private marine security companies as opposed to ISO 28000, which details the generic requirements of security within the management of the supply chain. The company had a seat on the British Standard Institute mirror committee, which provided subject matter expertise to the International Standards Organisation.
The increased threat to commercial shipping from piracy in the Indian Ocean and other regions, has led to extensive use of private maritime security companies on board vessels transiting high-risk areas.
"The shipping industry is very heavily regulated and the recent trend of piracy attacks has been a relatively new phenomenon. As a result, there has been a proliferation of maritime security companies offering their services without any effective framework to regulate their activities, and this standard has enabled that framework to be put in place," said David Fletcher.
As well as ISO 28000 and ISO PAS 28007 certification, Drum Cussac is already compliant with ISO 9001 for Quality Management Systems; ISO 14001 for Environmental Management and OHAS 18001, demonstrating high Occupational Health and Safety standards. The company is also a founding member of the International Code of Conduct Association (ICoCA) for private security service providers, and has a seat on the newly-established board.
