USCG: Do as I Say; Not as I Do
Irony: (noun) a state of affairs or an event that seems deliberately contrary to what one expects and is often amusing as a result. But this is anything but funny.
It has been a busy news month for the nation’s fifth uniformed service; the United States Coast Guard. Of note, changes to the United States Coast Guard (USCG) Sexual Assault and Sexual Harassment (SASH) regulations for U.S.-flagged commercial vessels entered into force on December 23, 2024. Separately, and from inside the Beltway, the House Committee on Oversight and Accountability released an interim staff memorandum providing an update on the Committee’s ongoing investigation into the United States Coast Guard (USCG) following allegations of pervasive sexual assault and misconduct.
Having just settled back into the Editor’s chair at MarineNews after almost five years of retirement, one of the things I marvel at is all the things that were supposed to have happened in the intervening 59 months, but did not. Similarly, issues which had been festering and addressed for as long as a decade before today, still haven’t been resolved. For example, that “can’t miss” offshore wind project that was going to light up Cleveland? Nope, it didn’t happen. At least, not yet. And, it turns out that sexual assault and misconduct remain as a serious problem; both for the domestic merchant fleets and for the regulatory body that oversees these business activities on the nation’s waterways, and the high seas.
I found myself in a “Rip Van Winkle” moment on the latter item(s), vigorously rubbing the sleep out of my eyes only to discover that fully five years wasn’t sufficient to come up with logical and effective safeguards to end the specter of sexual harassment (and worse), both in the Coast Guard, and in the merchant fleets under their watchful eyes. Now fully awake again (no – not ‘woke’), I doubt that anyone on the collective waterfront could fail to miss the irony of tasking a regulatory body that can’t police its own house, with the responsibility of making sure the people they supervise do the same.
Still worse, and reading the new SASH requirements that were included in the James M. Inhofe National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2023, the solution that the Coast Guard will enforce smacks of heavy-handed surveillance, a serious price tag for the private merchant fleet and its operators, and the unknown impact that these new rules will have on the thousands of professional mariners that fall under its purview. That said; the printed SASH rules and the less-than-flattering House memo tell me more than I want to know.
A class society news brief issued last week regarding the SASH issues, announced that “The USCG has been promulgating policy letters, flag interpretations of the ISM Code and Marine Safety Information Bulletins on their activities to implement these new requirements. The new requirements fall into the following three categories: posted signage, video and audio surveillance, and a master key system.” Separately, the House memorandum details “how the USCG concealed ‘Operation Fouled Anchor’ from Congress, failed to address both historic and persistent sexual misconduct at the USCG Academy, and neglected to help victims and hold perpetrators accountable.” That’s a lot to digest.
To say that “SASH” – both at the Coast Guard Academy and in industry – has been discussed, addressed and been the topic of much hand wringing for more than a decade, would not give justice to the issue. Today, however, we apparently face the same issues, despite more than sufficient time to address and solve a well-defined problem. The news as it materialized last week could just as well have been released in December of 2019, when I retired. Has nothing changed? Or, a maybe a better question to ask is whether the ‘cure’ being foisted on industry is worse than the problem itself.
- SASH Rules: a Shallow Dive into the Deep End
All U.S.-flagged commercial vessels that do not carry passengers must follow the requirements as per USCG Policy Letter 23-05. These include most vessels on a voyage of at least 600 miles or are at least 24 meters (79 feet) in length and are operating over the outer continental shelf for at least 72 hours or on an international voyage.
Apparently, fishing vessels, fish processing vessels and fish tendering vessels are exempt from these requirements. For my part, I’m not sure what the LOA of a particular vessel has to do with whether SASH could happen on board, or why fishing vessels are exempt. That said; the fishing vessel rules and business model have always been a puzzler. And, I guess, someone somewhere in authority is confident that nothing could happen in a voyage shorter than 72 hours. If so, he or she has another thing coming.
Vessel owners must maintain video and audio recordings for at least one year and at least five years if the recordings relate to a SASH incident. Recordings can be kept physically on a vessel or in a cloud format, but must have accurate time synchronization, time stamping and metadata.
All employees must be trained to respond to sexual assault and sexual harassment. Training records must be kept, including the date and location of the training, topics covered and employees present. These records, as well as training procedures and policies, must be added to the SMS if one is present.
In an era where serious shortages of seagoing personnel are being widely forecast, it is safe to say that today’s merchant mariners aren’t going to be happy with the SASH rules coming into force on U.S.-flagged vessels. It goes without saying that no one wants to kept under 24-hour surveillance. Moreover, any pretense of mentoring and/or employee development on board these vessels will instantly be gone the nanosecond this equipment is installed.
Can’t you just see it? Employee A (the new third mate) asks Employee B (the veteran second mate) to show him/her around the pumproom, perhaps to trace out the stripping system, or just to get familiarized with a new ship. It happens every day on tankers everywhere; a time-honored dance. Employee B, of the opposite sex, glances toward the pumproom and realizes that there is no surveillance down below and nothing to conclusively prove that nothing happened during this formerly-typical educational experience. But, of course, there’s a camera watching the WTD leading into said space. Employee B politely declines and quickly heads to the second mate’s cabin and locks the door behind him.
Similarly, the cost to install all of this equipment and re-key every door on the ship will not be cheap. And now, you have to pay somebody to watch video [maybe in real time] of the second assistant engineer hauling his clothes to the officer’s laundry. Good times!
It is already expensive to operate a U.S.-flag, Jones Act compliant hull. It’s about to get much pricier.
- Looking Ahead
Spoiler alert: for those who choose a career at sea, you’re going to make a lot of money. Beyond your wildest dreams. You will also meet some not-so-nice-people. If it is your first ship, these friendly people will likely be your supervisor(s). And unlike your friends living and working ashore (half of them these days pretending to work from their spare bedroom in their pajamas), you aren’t going to be able to leave your co-workers behind when you head home every night. You might be stuck on these platforms for months at a time with people you don’t like. It’s a tough, industrial, noisy and often dirty place to work. And, that’s just the good stuff. Sadly – and this is lost on many people – harassment in its many despicable forms isn’t reserved just for the fairer sex; it can happen to anyone. The fairly miserable six years I spent at sea in the 1980’s brought home that point nicely for me. Bottom line? If you can’t stand the heat, then stay out of the kitchen. Harsh, but it is reality.
Please don’t misunderstand me: I don’t pretend to have the answers. What we do know is that USCG leadership made a cognizant decision to withhold misconduct reviews from Congress and the public. Hence, we can’t be sure that the people in charge of enforcing the new SASH rules will be any better at that far reaching task than they have been at cleaning up their own problems. That’s a bad place to start any Performance Improvement Plan. And, of course, the irony of this situation is anything but funny.
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Joseph Keefe is the Editor of MarineNews magazine, and a 1980 graduate of the Massachusetts Maritime Academy. A licensed mariner, his career has spanned more than 40 years in the maritime, shipping and energy sectors. His work has been featured in more than 15 industry periodicals. Today, he contributes to all of the New Wave Media titles, as needed. Reach him at keefe@marinelink.com
Read on HERE at the U.S. Coast Guard.