We offer Towing Safety Management System development and training for both shore-side and vessel personnel, towing vessel and barge surveys, and more!
Tug & Barge Solutions offers a tailored safety management system for your company that is customized to your operation and its needs, all while being constantly monitored, audited, and updated by us.
Our Towing Safety Management Systems (TSMS) are based on the International Safety Management (ISM) Code and include portions of the upcoming Subchapter M. The TSMS can also be used as an AWO RCP-compliant plan and in 2014 it was audited numerous times at multiple companies with different auditors with no changes needed.
The overwhelming majority of auditors or USCG representatives who have encountered our program on client vessels have expressed that our all-encompassing approach is industry-leading, and consider it an extremely innovative solution to Towing Safety Management System requirements. Various versions of this RCP-compliant plan are on towboats across the Gulf Coast and tugs from New Orleans to New York and have been in use for nearly a decade. Our promise is that it will be Sub M compliant for you, and that it will continue to be updated on all industry regulations.
The Tug & Barge Solutions TSMS is much more than just a plan. We create it with you, implement it across your fleet and train each crew member. We offer unlimited support. We provide you with all the forms necessary to document the system and then perform monthly audits of the documentation so that we can track your progress and assure you of conformance with the TSMS.
We also visit your vessels at least quarterly to perform full safety audits that include many vessel surveying points. The onboard audits allow us to see the TSMS and the crew at work and make any adjustments if necessary. These visits also allow us to get candid feedback from the crew and provide them with training.
For those clients who prefer it, we have relationships with several software companies that can ease the record-keeping burden and provide immediate feedback and ease of use.
And Tug & Barge Solutions develops a baseline safety culture with a score associated with your company so that your management team knows where we started, where we need to improve and where the company is doing well and it provides a roadmap for where we are going. Subchapter M will require continuous improvement and we will work with you to always improve.
One of the tools at our disposal is TMSA2 Tanker Management Self-Assessment 2. It allows owners and operators to improve their management systems in addition to demonstrating a strong commitment to safety and environmental excellence. Although it started for tankers, it works for towing vessels. TMSA 2 was developed by OCIMF and has 12 elements ranging from Management, Leadership and Accountability to Navigation Safety and Incident Investigation & Analysis. We will work with your company through the self-assessment process. Continuous improvement is our goal with you company.
Tug & Barge Solutions strives to be the best safety & compliance company for towing vessels in the United States. We offer the following services:
• Towing Safety Management Systems from initial assessment through implementation and continuous improvement.
• Auditing (ISO, ISM)
• Safety Inspections
• Security Plan Creation, Implementation & Management
• SIRE Inspection Prep
• AWO RCP Implementation and Management
• Marine Surveying
Training
We pride ourselves on our Can-Do attitude. We have been at this a long time. Tugs and barges are our lives. Let us show you what a truly dedicated, professional marine services company Can Do for you. You won't be sorry.
Our Vision
• To work in partnership with our clients to protect their people, property and the environment;
• To set the highest professional standards in the companies’ safety and compliance that we manage;
• To fulfil a pro-active role in the safety of our customers’ employees.
Our Mission
To realize our vision, our mission is to:
• Exceed the expectations of our clients
• Continuously invest in and improve:
o Training & development of our people
o Our service, quality and innovation
o Our quality management systems
• Deliver exceptional value and service quality
• Be strategic and innovative in times of need
• Think long term in planning for and preventing client risk
• Pioneer best practice industry standards with industry and regulatory bodies
Our Values
Our people and our clients are at the very heart of our brand values. Honesty and integrity are firmly embedded in our company culture but what we believe really makes a difference is our people's passion for delivering added value, and exceeding client expectations. We pride ourselves on going the extra mile for our clients and exemplary professional conduct in all aspects of our service. We never stop looking for better ways to do things for our clients.
Our values serve as the bedrock from which we build. Our values provide a compass to direct our actions. Our values provide a benchmark from which to evaluate our performance. Our values will consistently describe how we expect to behave, not just when others are watching, but always, no matter who we are serving. We see ourselves as servants to our customers.
Leadership
We will encourage all of our employees to help shape a better future.
Collaboration
We intend to have the best possible talent and to leverage their collective genius with thought leaders of our suppliers and our customers.
Integrity
We intend to be honest and upright in all of our dealings.
Accountability
We will be accountable as a company in everything we do. We shall be accountable in ways that are recognizable and as exhibited by actions from every one of our employees. Real contributions will be expected towards meeting each employee’s measurable goals. Every employee shall be accountable to serve others internally and external to our organization so they, too, might make even greater contributions. Such measures of individual accountability shall start from the highest to the very bowels of our organization.
Passion
We will have fire in the belly, and be committed in heart and mind.
Diversity
We will strive to serve all humanity and be inclusive with customers from all nations and all organizations wherever they operate.
Quality
We shall measure ourselves by what we do and we will set for ourselves the highest standards of product and services quality and reliability. We will strive to be known more by our actions than by our slogans.
Performance
High performance is required of every employee. We shall not shy away from separating ourselves from under-performers.
Our Winning Culture
Our Winning Culture defines the attitudes and behaviors of all our employees so that we will fully achieve our Vision. We intend to be number one in all our fields of practice. Number two and number three positions shall be seen as needing substantial improvement. Below that, we shall exit as others provide more effective and efficient alternatives.
Focus on the Market
• We will focus on current and emerging needs of our customers and partners.
• We will be thought leaders and learn by getting out into the marketplace by listening, observing, and continually learning. From these we will garner new insights to share with our customers.
• We will develop an ever-evolving world view.
• We will focus on fast and effective execution in the marketplace.
• We will be insatiably curious, seek deep meaning and understanding of current and emerging market forces and market needs.
Work Smart
• We will always act with a high sense of urgency.
• We will remain responsive to change. Past laurels and current positions will only heighten our resolve to be leaders well into the future in all the fields in which we work.
• We will have the courage to change course when needed.
• We will maintain a sense of constructive discontent and of exploring new frontiers.
• We will be creative and innovative in our approaches to solving customer problems and in our services to make our customers’ opportunities more valuable and useful to all of the towing community.
• We will work effectively and efficiently.
• We will be trailblazers.
Act Like Owners
• We will be accountable for our actions, our interactions, and our inaction's.
• We will be good stewards in the use of our human resources, educational and training systems, our software system assets, our Fellows, instructors, and consultants. And we, together, will continually focus on building increased value.
• We will reward our people for taking risks and for finding better ways to solve clients’ problems. We'll help them achieve new heights of performance for each client. Each client will be viewed as unique and requiring solutions tailored to meeting their needs.
• We will learn from all of our outcomes – from our successes and from our failures.
• And to paraphrase Bear Bryant – When we achieve great things, we will act like we have done it before.
Build our Brand
• We will inspire creativity, passion, optimism, and fun.
• We will become known by the successes of our clients and customers, by the quality of our work, and by the high value-added embedded in our deliverables
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