§ 137.210 Internal survey program.

(a) The owner or managing operator of a towing vessel that has selected the TSMS option and who has chosen to demonstrate vessel compliance through an internal survey program must ensure that the TSMS applicable to the vessel includes: (1) Procedures for surveying and testing described in § 137.215; (2) Equipment, systems, and onboard procedures to be surveyed; (3) Identification of items that would need repair or replacement before the vessel could continue in service, such as deficiencies identified on Form CG-835, “Notice of Merchant Marine Inspection Requirements,” noted survey deficiencies, non-conformities, or other corrective action reports; (4) Procedures for documenting and reporting non-conformities and deficiencies; (5) Procedures for reporting and correcting major non-conformities; (6) The responsible person or persons in management who have the authority to: (i) Stop all vessel operations pending the correction of non-conformities and deficiencies; (ii) Oversee vessel compliance activities; and (iii) Track and verify that non-conformities and deficiencies were corrected; (7) Procedures for recordkeeping; and (8) Procedures for assigning personnel with requisite experience and expertise to carry out the elements of the survey. (b) The owner or managing operator is not required to survey the items as described in § 137.220 as one event, but may survey items on a schedule over time, provided that the interval between successive surveys of any item does not exceed 1 year, unless otherwise prescribed.