Samenvatting

This research was executed in response to the behaviour of many personnel during a Risk Advisory and Assurance Services (RAAS)-audit on board a R-class vessel of Holland America Line (HAL), one of the subsidiary companies of Carnival Corporation. A RAAS-audit is an internal audit performed by auditors hired by Carnival Corporation every twelve months on board each vessel of the fleet. It was observed many crewmembers exhibited elevated stress levels during a RAAS-audit. Because of this observation the main research question was developed:

‘What is the best possible way for a crew on board a Carnival Corporation vessel to prepare for a RAAS-audit, in order to obtain a positive audit result and minimize the amount of stress?’
On board the MS Amsterdam of HAL, managers with a supervisory role on board were interviewed to assess this problem. They were asked several questions regarding this subject that eventually led to many results. On average, the people that were interviewed had gained around 15 years of experience with the company.

Surprisingly, not all managers were aware of the meaning of a RAAS-audit or what the meaning or purpose was of the Health Environmental Safety and Security Management System (HESS-MS). Some managers admitted feeling stressed in preparation for the RAAS-audit or during the audit itself when questioned by the auditors.

Some suggestions by managers on board the Amsterdam highlighted areas that could be improved by Carnival Corporation to assist them to prepare in the best possible way while creating a positive audit result and a minimum amount of stress:

1) HESS-MS should be used on a daily basis for each crewmember. This should be checked by the HESS-MS app to see which crewmember logged in and for how long. The amounts of crewmembers that have opened the application logged in and have read the procedures should be checked by the managers.
2) Connect following the HESS-MS and all applicable laws and regulations to promotion.
3) Increase the manpower of the ship and the office in order to obtain a better way of communication between the ships and the office.
4) Increase the communication skills between the departments by organizing meetings between all the managers. Consequences should be attached when managers don’t show up or are not actively part of those meetings.
5) Crew members and office need to learn from mistakes / previous findings and reports and those need to be discussed with every team member.
6) Look at the workload of the managers by looking at the feasibility of following the HESS-MS and all regulations as it is now.
7) Use the Health Environmental Safety and Security - Management System (HESS-MS) only as the Safety Management System (SMS) of the ships as required by the ISM-code, don’t use additional procedures as well such as procedures for the Spa and Medical department on board.
8) The ships need more implementation time when a procedure comes out. A plan of action and a vision should be communicated and made well aware with everyone as well when changing something (this includes deck, engine, hotel and the office). Back up purchasing.
9) Make HESS-MS more user-friendly so it will save time for other things as well (improve the search button).
10) Judge and base the skills of crewmembers for their emergency function as well and not just only on their basic daily job.
11) Make the shipboard organization for each ship the same.
12) The vessel needs more help in auditing themselves for an audit by getting checklists on board or any other relevant tool that could contribute to that.
13) Schedules of officers should be taken into account, in such a way that officers do not board the ship right before a RAAS-audit is scheduled or the names of the managers on board previous to the RAAS-audit should be mentioned in the final report.
14) Newly embarked crew to be informed about HESS-MS and RAAS the day they come on board by the Human Resource Manager (HRM). Provide them with a folder that explains the importance of HESS-MS and RAAS and they must made well aware that it is applicable to every crewmember.
This research was the first research about this subject performed for Carnival Corporation and crew on board the vessels. This research was in contribution and conjunction with the research done by the head office of HAL located in Seattle. Hopefully the results and conclusions will inspire Carnival Corporation to change certain things on board the vessels and at the offices in order to move forward and increase the high level standards that come with working for Carnival Corporation.