PART 5 – SELF MONITORING
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Statutory Documents - IMO Publications and Documents - Resolutions - Marine Environment Protection Committee - Resolution MEPC.279(70) – 2016 Guidelines for Approval of Ballast Water Management Systems (G8) – (Adopted on 28 October 2016) - ANNEX - PART 5 – SELF MONITORING

PART 5 – SELF MONITORING

Introduction

5.1 BWMS should monitor and store a minimum number of parameters for detailed evaluation. In addition, all system indications and alerts should be stored and available for inspection. Data storage and retrieval should follow common standards. This Part gives an overview of the minimum required self-monitoring parameters.

Monitoring of parameters

5.2 The applicable self-monitoring parameters listed below should be recorded for every BWMSfootnote. Any additional parameters that are necessary to ascertain system performance and safety should be determined by the Administration and stored in the system. If a parameter is not applicable due to the particulars of the system, the Administration may waive the requirement to record that parameter. Limiting operating conditions on the operation of the BWMS should be determined by the manufacturer and approved by the Administration.

General information for all systems

5.3 The information and applicable self-monitoring parameters to be recorded for all systems should include, inter alia:

  • 1. general information: ship name, IMO number, BWMS manufacturer and type designation, BWMS serial number, date of BWMS installation on ship, BWMS treatment rated capacity (TRC), principle of treatment (in - line/ in- tank);

  • 2. operational parameters: all recorded parameters should be time tagged if applicable: BWMS operational modes and any transition modes, including bypass operations (e.g. uptake, discharge, warming-up, cleaning and start up), Ballast water pump in operation (yes/no – if information is available from ship), flow-rate at system outlet, Indication of the ballast water tank that is involved in the ballast water operation when practicable;

  • 3. it is recommended that positional information on ballast water operations and on the holding time should be recorded automatically. Otherwise it should be entered manually in the ballast water record book as appropriate. Administrations are encouraged to apply automatic position information recording to ships which install BWMS during ship's building to the greatest extent possible;

  • 4. system alerts and indications: all systems should have an alert regime. Every alert should be logged and time stamped. To assist the inspections it would be helpful to record an alert summary after each ballast water operation automatically, if possible;

  • 5. general alerts include: shutdown of system while in operation, when maintenance is required, BWMS bypass valve status, status of BWMS valves representing system operational mode as appropriate;

  • 6. operational alerts: whenever a relevant parameter exceeds the acceptable range approved by the Administration, the system should give an alert. In addition, an alert should be logged and time stamped also when a combination of relevant parameters exceeds system specifications, even if each single parameter does not exceed its approved range. If a safety relevant parameter (safety for crew, cargo and/or the ship) related to the BWMS exceeds approved limits, an alert/alarm should be mandatory (e.g. hydrogen level at appropriate measurement point(s));

  • 7. the Administration may require additional alerts depending on the design of the system and for future developments; and

  • 8. the System Design Limitation parameters and their corresponding data such as e.g. range, alarm limit, alert delay etc. be password protected on a level above what is required for normal operation and maintenance, i.e. on a system administrator level. Change of any data or parameters which are password protected and interruption of the measurement (wire break, signal out of range) shall be automatically logged and retrievable on a maintenance access level.

Data storage and retrieval

5.4 Storage of data should follow the requirements taking into account paragraphs 4.17 to 4.21 in the main body of these Guidelines. The equipment should be able to store a minimum number of self-monitoring parameters following common standards determined by the Organization.

5.5 The control and monitoring equipment should automatically record the proper functioning or failure of a BWMS without user interaction and add a time stamp to every entry. Additionally, the system should have a tool to produce summary text files for each ballast water operation on demand to support inspections work.

5.6 The system should store the required data in an acceptable format to be able to display, print or export the data for official inspections. An acceptable format could be:

  • .1 an internationally standardized readable format (e.g. text format, pdf, MS Excel); or

  • .2 the extensible mark-up language (xml).

5.7 The equipment should be so designed that, as far as is practical, it will not be possible to manipulate either the data being stored by the system or the data which has already been recorded. Any attempt to interfere with the integrity of the data should be recorded.

5.8 Permanent deletion of recordings should not be possible. The system should be capable of storing recorded data for at least 24 months to facilitate compliance with regulation B-2 of the BWM Convention. Where navigation equipment is connected to the monitoring system to provide data for recording, the interfaces should comply with applicable parts of International Standard IEC 61162.

Parent topic: ANNEX
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