Comments on: Act now before tragedy strikes http://thumbrella.com.au/act-now-before-tragedy-strikes-5818 Everything under the travel & hospitality umbrella Thu, 29 Jul 2010 12:02:32 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.2 hourly 1 By: Al http://thumbrella.com.au/act-now-before-tragedy-strikes-5818#comment-1982 Al Tue, 02 Mar 2010 04:20:02 +0000 http://thumbrella.com.au/?p=5818#comment-1982 The last 10 Years the Whitsunday Charter Boat Industry Association (WCBIA) has worked really hard to improve standards. The first major development, which seems like an eternity ago, was the code of practice... a long drawn out process with plenty of negotiating among members. But it set the frame work for members to adhere to. Today, the WCBIA continues with an agenda to improve quality and standards in our industry. A year ago we implemented the Vessel Rating System (VRS). Basically the more points you can achieve through vessel safety features, amount of space per person per bed, number of crew to guest ratios, number of toilets/showers to guest ratios, crew training and so on, the more points you score towards your Vessel Ratings. The negative to all this is that the WCBIA have to educate, audit and enforce which comes at a cost to all our members. However, if a member for whatever reason fails to make the minimum grade and continues to fail to meet the grade, then you have a problem which must be addressed to maintain integrity. This has happened with the WCBIA and it can be an extremely hard and emotionally demanding exercise. So what's my point of this story... I guess I'm trying to say, that as an industry which is maturing, we must help to improve standards from within, be bold, put your bias and competitive jousting aside... come to the table as industry clusters, work together, discuss common problems, work on common problems and help provide solutions... rather than waiting for the authorities to regulate...which will be a harder and more costly pill to swallow. As a footnote, I must say that the WCBIA has today forged amazing working relationships/partnerships with the authorities and various govt departments. The WCBIA is now almost always part of the solution and this has regularly lead to government grants to assist in worthy projects. The last 10 Years the Whitsunday Charter Boat Industry Association (WCBIA) has worked really hard to improve standards. The first major development, which seems like an eternity ago, was the code of practice… a long drawn out process with plenty of negotiating among members. But it set the frame work for members to adhere to. Today, the WCBIA continues with an agenda to improve quality and standards in our industry. A year ago we implemented the Vessel Rating System (VRS). Basically the more points you can achieve through vessel safety features, amount of space per person per bed, number of crew to guest ratios, number of toilets/showers to guest ratios, crew training and so on, the more points you score towards your Vessel Ratings. The negative to all this is that the WCBIA have to educate, audit and enforce which comes at a cost to all our members. However, if a member for whatever reason fails to make the minimum grade and continues to fail to meet the grade, then you have a problem which must be addressed to maintain integrity. This has happened with the WCBIA and it can be an extremely hard and emotionally demanding exercise.

So what’s my point of this story… I guess I’m trying to say, that as an industry which is maturing, we must help to improve standards from within, be bold, put your bias and competitive jousting aside… come to the table as industry clusters, work together, discuss common problems, work on common problems and help provide solutions… rather than waiting for the authorities to regulate…which will be a harder and more costly pill to swallow.

As a footnote, I must say that the WCBIA has today forged amazing working relationships/partnerships with the authorities and various govt departments. The WCBIA is now almost always part of the solution and this has regularly lead to government grants to assist in worthy projects.

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