Working with subcontract surveyors: quality and audit trail

You can work with subcontract surveyors safely if you keep three things under your own control: who is allowed to attend, to what standard they work, and a record of every value they enter. The client appointed your company, so the report is yours whoever attended; GAFTA's Code of Practice says that responsibility for a determination of conformity stays with the principal superintending company. This article is for freelancers and small firms of four to sixteen people that add outside capacity at busy times.

Why small firms subcontract, and what it puts at risk

A small firm cannot be in every port on the day a vessel arrives. GAFTA's Code lists the usual reasons: unforeseen or abnormal workload, key inspection staff being incapacitated, key equipment temporarily unfit, or part of the job being beyond the firm's own capability. Each is ordinary. The risk is that the person who attends works differently from you: a different sampling routine, a different way of rounding a sounding, a different habit of writing things down. The client sees one company name on the certificate.

Check what the contract allows before you subcontract

Your client's contract may decide the question for you.

• GAFTA. A subcontracting company must itself be on the Approved Register of Superintendents unless the principals expressly agree otherwise. The superintendent must inform the principals of its intention to subcontract and keep a register of all its subcontractors (Code of Practice, section 3).
• FOSFA. Member superintendents agree not to subcontract superintending duties to anyone other than a FOSFA-recognised member superintendent in the relevant commodity section, and then only with the principals' agreement (terms of membership, point k). The same terms require member superintendents to be independent of companies trading in the commodities (point b).
• Other clients. Read the appointment. A client that appointed you for your name may not expect somebody else at the tank.

Neither body says that a small firm may not use outside help. Both say you must tell the principals and be able to show who did what. Operium Solutions is not a member of GAFTA or FOSFA; the rules above are summarised from their published documents, which remain the authority.

Subcontractor or outsourced inspector

GAFTA's Code draws a line that matters for a small firm. A self-employed inspector who provides extra capacity is not counted as a subcontractor if three conditions hold (section 4.1):

1. They are formally contracted to operate under your management system and are covered by your insurance policies.
2. They comply with your training protocols.
3. You audit their compliance with your quality management system, including their full understanding of the GAFTA weighing and sampling rules (Nos. 123 and 124).

You must also keep a register of these individuals (section 4.2). The consequence is practical: a freelancer you bring in under your own system becomes your responsibility in every sense, including your insurance. Check with your insurer that such people are covered before the first job, not after the first claim.

Vetting and competence records

GAFTA's standard asks a superintendent company to define the competence its staff need and to run a regular training programme for all employees, expressly including temporary, outsourced and occasional staff. Training must cover, among other things, product knowledge, the responsibilities of a cargo superintendent, load compartment inspections and health and safety including confined spaces. Written records of training, self-assessments, performance reviews and certificates have to be kept (section 2). Equipment used must be covered by a calibration programme with records of issue and receipt, including to outsourced individuals (section 3).

For a small firm, a workable competence file per person holds:

• identity and contact details, and the cargoes and inspection types they have done;
• qualifications and certificates, with expiry dates;
• a supervised first job with you or a senior, and your written assessment of it;
• the equipment they use, with calibration dates;
• proof of their own insurance, if you require it;
• a review after each job.

Shortcuts are tempting, and this file is the place where they show. If a client asks how you knew a person was competent for vegetable oil tanks, the file is your answer.

What the contract with a subcontract surveyor must say

A written agreement with each person or company, agreed before the job, should cover:

• Scope and instructions. ITIC's 2017 claims examples show that the wording of instructions can widen liability. Pass the client's instruction on exactly, and record any limit on scope.
• Standard of work. Your procedures, the applicable rules (for example GAFTA Nos. 123 and 124, ISO 5555 for oils) and your report format.
• Liability and insurance. How far the subcontractor is liable to you, and the cover they carry. Terms only work if properly incorporated into the contract, which is ITIC's point about standard terms; have a lawyer check the wording for the country that governs the agreement.
• Confidentiality. Client names, cargo details and commercial terms stay with you and the client.
• Data. If the person handles personal data such as crew names or signatures, the GDPR requires a processor to give sufficient guarantees, and staff handling personal data to be committed to confidentiality (Regulation (EU) 2016/679, Article 28). Take advice on whether Article 28 applies to your set-up.
• Records and corrections. The subcontractor hands over originals, including photographs, at the end of the job, and does not alter a report after issue.
• Independence. Where a client requires it, a statement that the person has no interest in the cargo.

Keeping one standard of work across people you do not employ

Standardise what can be standardised. One set of forms for every person, including the same tank and hold checks; one way of recording measurements; one report format; one review step before anything is signed. The sampling rules and the inspection report format are where variation does most harm, because a sampling error cannot be corrected afterwards.

Then audit. GAFTA's standard requires internal audits that include work done by subcontractors and outsourced inspectors, done by someone who is not auditing their own work, and with non-conformances followed up (section 8.4). A small firm can do the same in proportion: re-read the first three reports of a new person before issue, and keep sampling their reports afterwards.

The audit trail when a client questions a figure

A client may query a weight, a temperature or a date months after the job. You then need to show who entered the value, when, on what instruction, and whether it was changed later. GAFTA's standard points the same way. The report must reflect the actual and true findings; internally produced records must be signed by the person who carried out the task, or, where kept electronically, carry that person's name; corrections after issue must be recorded; and records are kept for at least seven years unless other requirements apply (section 9). The report itself must name any subcontractors used and identify their results as theirs (section 9.2), so a hidden subcontractor is a breach, not a convenience.

A folder of emailed spreadsheets does not give you that. You cannot tell which version was the last, and you cannot show who typed a number. Software that helps with subcontractor management is worth judging on this one point: does every entered value carry a name and a time, and can you see the history?

Practical rule

Give every subcontract surveyor the same one-page job sheet and have them enter their values into your system or your form the same day, with their name on each entry. If they will not, you cannot defend the figure later.

Run your survey company on FOSS

FOSS, the Field Operational Services System, keeps an audit log per entered value, so you can answer "who entered what" for your own staff and for people you bring in. It carries the job from nomination to certificate, lets you enter values offline on board, applies the calculation methods used in the sector, and produces reports in your own house style. Run your survey company on FOSS: see how it works.