KODOThe yacht SMS audit checklist
The difference between a real safety management system and paperwork theatre shows up in twenty minutes of honest checking. This is that twenty minutes, written down: tick it as if the surveyor were already aboard.
Would your SMS survive an inspector today?
Every commercially operated yacht runs some form of safety management system. The difference between a real one and paperwork theatre shows up in about twenty minutes of honest checking. Work through this list as if the surveyor were aboard; anything you cannot evidence in writing, treat as not done, because that is how the inspector will treat it.
Print it, tick it on screen, or hand it to the mate. Intervals vary by flag, code and your own SMS, so where yours differ, use yours.
A clean sweep here does not certify anything, and this page is practical guidance rather than legal advice. But a boat that passes this list cold has very little to fear from the real thing.
What people ask
Does a yacht under 500 GT need a safety management system?
Commercially operated yachts under most flags and codes need a documented safety management system appropriate to their size, a mini-ISM, even below the 500 GT threshold where the full ISM Code becomes mandatory. Private yachts are generally not required to, and the well-run ones do it anyway. Verify your own flag and code.
What does a surveyor actually ask for?
Evidence, not assurances: the drill log with dates and attendees, the risk assessment register with review dates, closed permits, signed safety meeting minutes, the certificate register, incident records with verified corrective actions, and the DPA details. If it is not written down, it did not happen.
How often should safety meetings happen?
Monthly is the common cadence on well-run yachts, with minutes signed by the master and actions assigned to named people with due dates. The meeting matters less than the closed actions it produces.
Can this evidence be produced automatically?
Yes. KODO keeps the drill register, risk assessments, permits, meetings and corrective actions as live records with database-enforced signatures, and produces a 90-day SMS evidence pack as one PDF: the bundle a surveyor asks for, generated instead of assembled.
Or never fill this in by hand again
KODO produces this record automatically from the work the crew already do, flags problems as they form, and exports the signed document your flag inspector asks for.
See it on a live demo boat