Safe Operations

Safe Operations and the Environment

As an industry leader in safe operations, Tidewater undertakes to provide a place of employment for our staff and our customers that is the safest possible in the challenging marine environment. The company maintains effective accident prevention programs and systems and complies with applicable national and international rules and regulations.

Given our view of safe operations, accident prevention and environmental protection as core operational responsibilities, we hold all employees responsible for the prevention of job-related injuries and illnesses, property damage and environmental accidents through the use of good judgment and the consistent application of company guidelines and procedures. Our philosophy is that no job is so important that we cannot take the time to do it properly, and therefore complete it safely.

That commitment has made Tidewater an industry leader in safe operations.

A Strong Environmental Ethic

Tidewater is privileged to deliver its services in an environmental setting of extraordinary beauty and power—the waters of the world. We are keenly aware of the balance that must be maintained between human activities and nature’s beauty and abundance, and we are committed to conducting all of our operations in a way that avoids or minimizes actions that could harm the environment.

Our policy is one of responsible environmental stewardship; our objective is to prevent pollution in our operations. Tidewater and its employees follow all applicable state, federal and other regulatory standards to prevent pollution or environmental damage to the lands, waters and air in which they work. Furthermore, vendors, subcontractors and others who visit or work at company locations and facilities are held accountable for ensuring that environmentally sound practices and applicable laws and procedures are followed. We make sure every employee knows that environmental pollution hazards or violations of our environmental policy should be brought to the immediate attention of management.

Tidewater’s exceptional environmental performance is evidence of the company’s commitment.

Vessels

Tidewater inspects its vessels to ensure both legal and regulatory compliance and a safe workplace. A prominent component of this process is our Vessel Maintenance System; it ensures the reliability of all vessels operated by Tidewater, with an emphasis on the reliability of critical systems. We reinforce the importance of this program by training our employees to maintain a very high awareness of vessel equipment preparedness and we safeguard the integrity of our Vessel Maintenance System through internal and external audits.

People

Tidewater believes its employees are its greatest assets, and so we’re committed to providing employees with the safest working environment and the highest level of training possible. We maintain full compliance with the current Standard for Training, Certification and Watchkeeping (STCW) that requires employees to be familiar with safe working practices and emergency response procedures, and to be competent in implementing such procedures.

Programs

Tidewater has developed and implemented a Safety Management System (SMS), a comprehensive guide to policies, practices and procedures that contains information ranging from corporate standards to safety guidance for day-to-day operations. This system is fully compliant with the International Safety Management (ISM) Code; all Tidewater shorebases maintain a Document of Compliance, and all Tidewater vessels maintain a Safety Management Certificate that certifies that their shipboard management operates in accordance with the approved SMS. While only vessels larger than 500 gross tons are legally required to maintain Safety Management Certification, Tidewater has chosen to have many of its smaller vessels certified to help ensure a worldwide safety and quality standard for our vessels and people.

Two main tenets of Tidewater’s SMS are our Risk Assessment/Job Safety Analysis (RA/JSA) and Stop Work Obligation (SWO) policies.

• The RA/JSA process enables all employees to walk through the work scope, identify the potential hazards, measure the risk and put controls in place to reduce or eliminate the hazards identified before the work is undertaken.
• SWO is the right and duty of each employee to stop a job that is unsafe or is felt to be unsafe. Any employee can shut down or suspend any job whenever he or she feels an unsafe working condition exists until that condition can be improved or the doubt is resolved. Tidewater management supports all employees in their use of this policy.

Operating Safely is a Core Asset.

Tidewater empowers its employees with the authority to review work practices so that we can prevent accidents. We also work to prevent pollution or other adverse environmental impacts from our operations. We believe properly trained employees armed with both the knowledge and authority to control their environment are in the best position to protect themselves, our vessels and our customers. So safety and environmental protection are tied directly to our most important business assets—our people, our capacity to control costs, and our ability to deliver the highest quality service.

Notes: U. S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data located on the US Department of Labor website.
Company statistics extracted from respective websites.