Development of Environmental Case Reports (ECRs)

The Challenge

The increasing relevance of changing policy and legislation in the environmental area has required a focus on the Defence Maritime sector.

The UK is committed to Net Zero and various other Environmental targets, requiring the Defence Equipment and Support (DE&S) Ships area to review the Environmental Cases across Platforms and Equipment. The challenge facing NSS was the limited availability of suitably qualified and experienced personnel within the team and inconsistent information recorded for the platforms, with environmental information often having been documented at build and not updated.

Our Solution

Safeguard Engineering were already supporting NSS work across the platform portfolio and were able to step forward with our team of environmental specialists to engage and support the delivery of updated Environmental Cases. Working with NSS, we delivered an achievable programme, aligning meetings to achieve efficiencies and eliminate duplication.

We are the sector leader in having such a POEMS-trained team that can research the data and deliver compliant Environmental Case Reports (ECR) aligned to the new MOD format. Our team reviewed and evolved the processes to align with the updated POEMS process for each platform and subsequently developed and delivered a two-volume format for Safety & Environmental Case Reports (SECR) for each platform, with the ECR being Volume 2 and the SCR being Volume 1. The outcome being that for the first time, NSS platforms have a fully comprehensive SECR (Vol 1 and 2) for all the platforms supported.

Client Benefits

The key benefits of this programme to the NSS team were:

• Significantly improved understanding of the Environmental requirements and a clear understanding of each platform.
• Efficiencies in time and resources through delivery of coherent and coordinated reports to a standard format that is easier to review and update.

The legacy of the work is a much greater understanding of the Environmental challenge and increased environmental competence within the NSS team. Safeguard Engineering achieved efficiencies by adjusting the SECR cycle to align meetings to maximise benefits while delivering efficient time and resource management for NSS.

Safeguard Engineering has built a trusted and productive ongoing partnership with the NSS team as the specialist provider of safety and environmental management services, supporting the update and review cycle of the Platform SECRs and supporting publications.