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Competent company type A-1

General information about the scheme

Competent companies (type A-1) approved by the Norwegian Maritime Authority will be able to perform the following on ships and mobile offshore units with the Norwegian flag:

  • Annual and five-year inspections
  • Re-certification after structural damage
  • Initial control

This scheme is administered by the Norwegian Maritime Authority. It should not be confused with the scheme managed by the Norwegian Labour Inspection Authority for competent companies approved by them.

Approval as a competent company of type A-1 by the Norwegian Maritime Authority may be granted if the company satisfies the required conditions. These conditions and limitations (see below) must be incorporated into the company's management system. The Norwegian Maritime Authority reserves the right to conduct an audit of the company prior to granting approval.

Prerequisites for approval

Companies themselves must manage who in the company can perform which crane certifications. The system around this, training, and the verification of each individual must be clearly defined in the management system.

Since any approval is based on the regulations for mobile offshore units, it is an absolute prerequisite to have a good understanding of large offshore cranes, including AOPS/MOPS.

Competent companies of type A-1 must have a professional environment within the company. This means that there must be at least three employees who carry out inspections of cranes in the field.

  • At least two of these must have good experience with offshore cranes and as a minimum hold an inspector course for this type of crane – G5K. This also entails a requirement to take qualifying modules that are necessary prior knowledge.
  • Everyone must have documentable training in the control of steel wire.

In addition, there must be expertise in strength and structure within the company. You must have personnel who are experts in crane calculations, so that you can:

  • Perform your own crane calculations
  •  calculations made by others

The company's overall competence must be sufficient in all disciplines.

  • Strength and structure
    • NDT competence and necessary equipment (*)
  • Automation
  • Hydraulics
  • Electronics
  • Control system/PLC (**)


(*) It is accepted that NDT services are a outsourced service. There must be a framework agreement for such a service when this is the case.

(**) It must be stated in the management system what, if anything, is allowed to be done by the inspector. It must be ensured that nothing is carried out that conflicts with the company's obligations and/or the crane supplier's recommendations.

Procedures must ensure that cranes are inspected by personnel with knowledge of Norwegian crane regulations and with the competence required for the type of crane. Dedicated checklists must be available for the periodic inspection of cranes delivered according to the Norwegian Maritime Authority's regulations. Dedicated checklists must also be available for the initial certification of cranes according to the following regulations: 

  1. Regulations of 21 December 2017 no. 2381 on cranes and lifts on mobile offshore units
  2. Regulations No. 31 of 13 January 1986 on cranes used for loading and unloading on ships in open waters
  3. Regulations No. 4 of 17 January 1978 on loading and unloading facilities on ships

The checklists must include references to where in the regulations (which section) the different checklist points are referenced from (when this is directly relevant to the checklist point). All relevant regulatory requirements must be included in the checklist.

 This includes requirements in the construction standard when applicable (EN 13852-1).

The competent company must:

  • be certified according to ISO 9001.
  • have liability insurance.
  • immediately notify NMA of dangerous conditions (on Norwegian-flagged vessels)
  • send all reports from annual, 5-year and first-time certifications of cranes on Norwegian-flagged mobile offshore units to the NMA on post@sdir.no.

The documentation for completed jobs must:

  • Be documented on the correct ILO form according to the regulations
  • In addition to the signature by the responsible person (on site), the ILO form must clearly indicate which competent company type A-1 has performed the inspection. 
  • Indicate which regulation has been applied.

Limitations

  • The approval is linked to the organisation that has been audited. If the company changes its organisation number, the approval will no longer be valid. NMA must be informed.
  • In cases of mergers where the same organisation number is retained, NMA must be informed.
  • If the supervisor who was employed by the organisation at the time of approval leaves, the approval will no longer be valid. NMA must be informed. 
  • If there are no longer at least three inspectors who are permanently employed and work in the field, NMA must be informed.
  • If the company no longer has in-house calculation competence for cranes and/or licence to necessary software, the approval will no longer be valid. NMA must be informed. 
  • The approval only applies to personnel who are permanently employed in the organisation number of the audited and approved company: 
    • All employees must be checked out by the supervisor for the specific crane type. This applies to everyone, regardless of previous experience and qualifications.
    • Before verification for the crane type is performed, the following must be included in the crane inspector’s assessment:
      • Assessment of basic competence at the time of appointment
      • Need for external or internal training.
    • The internal training programme, which includes a buddy scheme and verification, must be assessed by the NMA. All assessments must be traceable. Changes must be clarified with NMA.
  • Personnel working in a competent company cannot apply to NMA for approval as a competent person.
  • The person who is to carry out the initial inspection of a crane must have an independent role. The person(s) performing the inspection must be independent of the crane supplier. The person(s) performing the initial certification must either be employed by the company operating the vessel or by a company that owns the vessel the crane is on.

Applications for approval

Once the prerequisites are met, an application can be sent to the Norwegian Maritime Authority at post@sdir.no. 

Initially, a short text/application should be sent with the name of the company, contact person, and organisation number. 

It must be confirmed that the prerequisites on this page are in place. If any work is ongoing, this must be described. Before approval will be granted, the limitations must be accepted and included in the management system.