TMSA 3 explained: elements, KPIs, stages and a self-assessment that holds up

What is TMSA 3?

TMSA is a programme run by the Oil Companies International Marine Forum (OCIMF). It gives companies a way to measure and improve their own safety management systems against a common set of best practices. OCIMF introduced the programme in 2004, and the current third edition, Tanker Management and Self Assessment: A Best Practice Guide, was released in April 2017.

TMSA 3 is not a regulation. OCIMF describes it as a complement to IMO conventions and codes, and the ISM Code remains the legal requirement. In practice, though, oil majors and charterers use a tanker operator's published TMSA as part of their vetting, so most tanker operators who trade with them treat it as essential.

Three things make up the programme:

• The guide: the 13 elements, their KPIs and best practice guidance.
• The self-assessment: the operator answers each KPI and publishes the result through OCIMF's SIRE/BIRE MSA tool, for an annual subscription fee.
• The review by others: programme recipients, such as oil majors, can view published assessments and test them, often in an office audit.

OCIMF has said that it does not itself carry out assessments based on TMSA data. Any assessment or score is made by the recipient who uses it.

What are the 13 TMSA 3 elements?

The elements cover the whole of shore management, from leadership to security. Element 6 has a sub-element, 6A, for mooring and anchoring.

TMSA 3 revised element 10 from environmental management to environmental and energy management, and added element 13 on maritime security. Elements 6 and 6A were extensively revised, with more KPIs and guidance. For how mooring evidence overlaps between TMSA, OCIMF's MEG4 and other frameworks, see The Four-Framework Problem in Mooring Compliance.

How do TMSA 3 stages and KPIs work?

Each element contains KPIs grouped into four stages. Stage 1 is the minimum standard OCIMF expects. Stages 2, 3 and 4 describe increasing levels of practice, moving from having procedures, to measuring them, to analysing trends and improving. Each KPI comes with best practice guidance that explains what good looks like.

The operator answers each KPI "Yes" or "No", with optional comments. The stages build on each other: in OCIMF's cumulative view, a stage only counts for an element when every earlier stage in that element is also answered "Yes". So a company that meets several stage 3 KPIs but misses one at stage 2 cannot show stage 3 for that element.

A stage is a claim about how the company works in practice, across the fleet. Each "Yes" needs evidence that would satisfy someone who has never seen the company before.

Who needs a TMSA 3 self-assessment?

Any tanker operator that wants to trade with oil majors or charterers who use TMSA in their vetting. OCIMF designed TMSA 3 for tankers worldwide, including coastal and inland tankers. The assessment covers the company that manages the ships, usually the Document of Compliance holder under the ISM Code, not each ship individually.

Dry bulk operators have a parallel framework, the Dry Bulk Management Standard (DryBMS). See our DryBMS guide for how the two compare.

How often should a TMSA 3 self-assessment be done?

OCIMF recommends retaking the self-assessment every 12 months. That is a recommendation, not a requirement, but a published assessment more than a year old rarely describes a company accurately, and recipients notice the date.

Many operators also update an element during the year when something affects it, such as a reorganisation, a new ship type, a serious incident or an audit finding. Linking the annual TMSA review to the ISM Code's internal audit, which must take place at intervals of no more than 12 months, lets one body of evidence serve both.

How does TMSA 3 connect to SIRE 2.0?

Closely. OCIMF aligned the SIRE 2.0 Question Library with TMSA, and each SIRE 2.0 question lists the TMSA KPIs it relates to. A negative observation on a ship can therefore point to a weakness in the office process behind it. Vetting reviewers read the ship inspection reports and the office self-assessment side by side, and a company that claims stage 3 for maintenance while its ships collect defect-reporting observations will be asked to explain the gap. See our SIRE 2.0 guide for how the inspection works.

How do you run a TMSA 3 self-assessment that holds up?

1. Give every element an owner. Choose the manager who runs that process day to day, not the person who keeps the assessment file.
2. Start from stage 1 and work up. Confirm the lower stages are fully met before claiming a higher one.
3. Score from evidence only. For each KPI, link the record that proves it: an audit report, training matrix, drill log, management of change file or incident analysis.
4. Sample across the fleet. Check more than one ship per KPI, and include your weakest.
5. Score down when in doubt. An honest stage 2 with an improvement plan is stronger than a stage 3 that falls apart in an office audit.
6. Turn every gap into a plan. Each gap gets an owner, a deadline and a target stage.
7. Review it with senior management, and record the review. Element 1 and element 12 both look for leadership involvement and a working management review.

For more on scoring from records rather than memory, see our article TMSA 3 and DryBMS self-assessments: score from evidence.

What evidence do auditors expect for TMSA 3?

Auditors expect records that show the process working across the fleet, recently, and reviewed by management. A procedure shows intent; a record shows practice; a trend with action shows a higher stage. Typical examples:

The common thread is follow-up. Inspectors and auditors look for the loop from finding, to action, to verification that the action worked.

Why do TMSA 3 self-assessments fail at audit?

Most failures come from a mismatch between the stage claimed and the evidence available:

• Stage claimed, record missing. The KPI is answered "Yes", but nobody can find the proof.
• Evidence from one ship. The best ship stands in for the fleet.
• Policy without practice. A procedure exists, but nothing shows it was followed in the past year.
• Copied forward. Last year's answers are carried over without a fresh check.
• No owner. One person in HSEQ completes the whole assessment the week before it is due.
• Office staff who cannot explain it. The owner of an element cannot walk an auditor through their own evidence.
• Evidence nobody can find in time. The records exist, but in personal folders and mailboxes, so they cannot be produced while the auditor is in the room.

Where can outside help make a difference?

An outside gap assessment gives an honest view before an oil major gives one for you. It tests each element against evidence the way a reviewer would, ranks the gaps, and turns them into a plan with owners. A mock office audit then lets the people who own each element practise presenting their evidence under questioning.

Synergetic has carried out 16 TMSA 3 and DryBMS office preparations and mock inspections, alongside more than 550 onboard sailing audits and pre-vetting inspections, so we see both the office and the ship side of vetting.

Keeping evidence linked to each KPI through the year makes the annual update a review, not a rebuild. HSEQ X7 holds audits, incidents and corrective actions, Report X7 produces fleet-wide KPI reports, and DMS X7 keeps controlled procedures in one place.

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