RESPONSIBILITY AND AUTHORITY

Precruise Responsibilities

Proponents, SSP, and PPSP Interaction

EXCOM presides over JOIDES and advises the ODP prime contractor, JOI, on policy issues. Scientific leadership is provided by SCICOM, which heads the JOIDES science advisory structure. Scientific proposals are reviewed by the SSEPs for Environment and Interior, which select scientifically mature proposals for external review.

SCICOM (with advice from the SSEPs) creates small, focused short-term PPGs to work with proponents to produce mature proposals that cover specific scientific themes. JOIDES service panels provide advice to the advisory structure and include the SSP, PPSP, and SciMP.

Following reviews of proposals by external panels, the SSEPs forward scientifically mature proposals to SCICOM with a recommendation for inclusion in the drilling program. SCICOM ranks all the proposals and sends them to OPCOM. OPCOM receives reports from the PPGs and recommends the drilling program schedule to SCICOM for approval. TEDCOM provides advice to ODP through OPCOM on technical matters, drilling tools, and techniques to meet scientific objectives, and monitors the progress of their development. The SSP provides advice to ODP through OPCOM on the adequacy of and need for site survey information relating to proposed drilling targets. The PPSP provides advice to ODP through OPCOM regarding potential safety and pollution hazards that may exist because of general or specific geology of the seafloor or as a consequence of human activities.

Both the JOIDES PPSP and the ODP/TAMUSP give advice and make recommendations that are considered in the final decision on whether a specific site will be drilled.

Science Operator

The operation of the drillship, which includes planning and implementation of cruises, is managed from ODP facilities at TAMU in College Station, Texas. This facility also houses the Gulf Coast Repository, which contains cores from the Pacific and Indian Oceans. As science operator, TAMU is responsible for

Staff Scientist/Leg Project Manager

The advisory structure of ODP determined in 1996 that the program would incorporate the principles of project management as an operational paradigm. With this shift, the Staff Scientist was assigned as the LPM. This position is pivotal for successful completion of each cruise, coordination of the leg team, and management of leg-related resources. LPM/Staff Scientists are supervised by the Deputy Director for Operations, who oversees LPM tasks, and the Manager of Science Operations, who oversees all other job functions. The Staff Scientist is responsible for ensuring the successful implementation and completion of the cruise-based science plan as defined by the JOIDES panels through project management of the cruise-related resources. As cruise project manager, the Staff Scientist

In addition, the Staff Scientist

Specific duties of the Leg Project Manager/Staff Scientist include:

Co-Chief Scientists

The Co-Chief Scientists are responsible for the scientific success of the cruise. Their responsibilities include

Logging Staff Scientist

Shortly after the drillship schedule has been set by SciCOM at the August meeting, ODP Logging Services appoints a Logging Staff Scientist for each scheduled leg. The Logging Staff Scientist is considered to be the leader of the Logging Services project team. In addition to all shipboard participants, the team usually consists of the following personnel:

In addition, there may be other engineering or scientific personnel involved if special projects are planned for the cruise. The LDEO Deputy Director of Operations is responsible for coordinating the activities of the LPMs and is available, along with the Director of Operations, to assist as needed.

The Logging Staff Scientist is responsible for ensuring the successful implementation of the logging program for each cruise. He/she provides a link between ODP Logging Services and the shipboard scientists before, during, and after the cruise. The role of the Logging Staff Scientist during the cruise includes

Cruise Responsibilities

Co-Chief Scientists

The Co-Chief Scientists are responsible for the scientific success of the cruise. At sea they are responsible for optimum use of the vessel's time, except as abridged by policies set by the ODP Program Plan (available from ODP/TAMU), safety considerations, and/or laws of the sea. The Co-Chief Scientists are charged with implementing the recommendations of the JOIDES Planning Committee for drilling, coring, and logging, after the recommendations have been reviewed operationally and approved by ODP management.

Specific cruise duties include:

Staff Scientist/Leg Project Manager

The ODP Staff Scientist/LPM is responsible for the following:

Operations Manager

The Operations Manager is the senior ODP/TAMU representative aboard ship. He/she is responsible for

The Operations Manager, if necessary, reminds the Co-Chief Scientists and other scientific party members that if any hole at a site is drilled to a depth >400 m, at least one of the holes must be logged. All communications with Transocean personnel regarding cruise operations or any other business matters must go through the Operations Manager. The Operations Manager also has direct supervision of the Operations Engineer. It is the Operations Manager's obligation, after consulting the Co-Chief Scientists and Staff Scientist, to terminate drilling operations whenever necessary to prevent any possible release of hydrocarbons. Final authority to terminate drilling/coring resides with the Operations Manager.

The Contract between Texas A&M Research Foundation (TAMRF) and Ocean Drilling Limited (Transocean) specifies that the ODP Operations Manager is the only ODP contract representative on board who is authorized to issue orders to Transocean (the Contractor). All ODP instructions and business with the Contractor must come from the Operations Manager and should be given (preferably in writing) to the Transocean OIM.

The Operations Manager is responsible for working with the Contractor's supervisory personnel to ensure compliance with the contract and ensure the most effective safe use of time and materials in compliance with the Scientific Prospectus, science plan, and leg operations. The ODP/TAMU Administration Department is responsible for administering and interpreting the Contract. The Contract can have numerous amendments and additions that modify and extend the contract. A copy of the Contract is maintained in the Operations Manager's office on board the ship. The ODP Administration Department should be contacted for the latest additions and interpretation of the contract.

In addition, action by the Planning Committee (PCOM) and JOI have clarified policy with regard to the role of the Operations Manager in operational decision making. These interpretations concern not only logging and downhole instrumentation, but overall scientific site objectives.

Paragraph 562 of the JOI ODP Policy Manual states: "The ODP Operations Manager is the official representative of the Ocean Drilling Program and has the responsibility of seeing that the SCICOM (formerly PCOM) drilling and logging guidelines are followed during the cruise operations."

This is not to imply that the Operations Manager has the authority to make or alter scientific decisions. The operational plans and scientific objectives described in the cruise prospectus reflect the official directives and policies to be followed on a given leg.

Logging Staff Scientist

The LDEO Logging Staff Scientist is responsible for the following:

Master and Transocean Offshore Installation Manager

Maritime law states that the ultimate and overall responsibility for safety on board the ship resides with the Master of the vessel (i.e., the Captain). Transocean company policy is that the Transocean OIM is the senior Transocean representative on board and is in charge of Transocean drilling-related operations when the ship is in DP mode (except where the safety of the ship is involved). The vessel's viability as everyone's life-support system has first priority. The safety of individuals has priority over the safety of the drill string and other equipment.

Specific responsibilities of the Master include

Specific duties of the OIM include

Tool Pusher

Specific duties of the Tool Pusher include

Laboratory Officer

While at sea, the Laboratory Officer reports to the Operations Manager and is responsible to the Co-Chief and Staff Scientists for (1) the direct supervision, performance, and safety of the ODP technical staff in the collection of core material and recording of data and (2) proper, efficient, and safe operation and maintenance of the ship's laboratories and related equipment. On most cruises, a member of the technical staff is designated Assistant Laboratory Officer, handling part of these responsibilities. The technical staff on board JOIDES Resolution usually consists of a Laboratory Officer, eight Marine Laboratory Specialists (laboratory technicians), one photographer, one yeoperson, two chemists, two electronics technicians, two computer system managers, and one curatorial representative. In normal practice, the Laboratory Officer directs these activities in a way consistent with the guidelines and overall priorities, policies, and assignments made by ODP/TAMU.

The Laboratory Officer is responsible for all shipboard scientific equipment and supply items. All samples, data, and equipment, including necessary paperwork, are prepared for shipment under his direction.

The Laboratory Officer works with Transocean through the Operations Manager when his areas of responsibility involve ship's personnel, equipment, or operations.

SCICOM/Safety Panel

It is rare in ODP operations that the prospectus can be followed in its entirety. Time limitations, delays, and unexpected drilling results usually dictate that certain objectives or operations must be deleted or changed. The authority to alter the science objectives does not reside on the drillship. Changes can be effected only with the approval of the SCICOM and/or the Safety Panel through communications with ODP/TAMU management. Changes to the approved operational plan require the approval of ODP/TAMU management.

It is the Operations Manager's responsibility to keep the Co-Chief Scientists and ODP management sufficiently informed about events that will force a departure from the prospectus plan. Co-Chief Scientists may need to be reminded to submit their recommendations for alternative plans to ODP management for discussion with SCICOM and/or PPSP, as appropriate. If it is avoidable, resolution of a situation should not be postponed, forcing a last-minute shipboard decision.

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