Coronavirus: ABS publishes guidelines on decontaminating assets

ABS said Response Measures to Covid-19 for the Marine and Offshore Industries helps maritime professionals address the challenges the virus brings by offering practical guidance on issues including preventing contamination, maintaining an asset in a sanitised state, decontaminating an asset and considerations for the choice, use and disposal of cleaning and disinfecting products.

ABS chairman, president and chief executive Christopher J Wiernicki said “[The guidance will advise] how to protect crews while continuing operations in complex environments with unique requirements, where decontamination is considerably more challenging than for assets on land. For instance, improper application of detergents and disinfectants can degrade structural materials or weaken coatings designed to protect structures.”

The document is applicable to commercial and naval vessels, including drilling units, production installations and other offshore units. The company said the information in the document is compiled from a range of independent governmental and commercial sources and is intended to be a consolidation of the best available information at the time of publication.

ABS worked with physician Rear Admiral Joyce Johnson of the US Public Health Service (Ret) in preparing the guidance document. Dr Johnson said “The sanitisation guidance provided will potentially save lives for people who must live and work at sea.”

The guidance follows last week’s announcement by ABS Group Consulting of a Restart Risk Model designed to help commercial and public organisations get workers safely back on site following public lockdowns.

This month, the company also published long-term forecasts to assess potential outcomes in shipping’s drive to decarbonise.

Response Measures to COVID-19 for the Marine and Offshore Industries can be found here.

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