14 | WATERLINE July 2025 INDUSTRY ACCREDITATION & OPERATIONAL PREPAREDNESS The Marina Industries Association (MIA) provides independently audited accreditation programs, certifications and industry training that help marinas assess the effectiveness of their planning, procedures and facilities and their preparedness and ability to manage an incident. The Gold Anchor and Clean Marina accreditation programs provide marina businesses with a set of articulated standards and best practices to implement across their operations and provides an independent assessment of their compliance with those standards. Gold Anchor is a globally recognised program with the objective of setting and raising industry standards. The program assists marinas to position and differentiate themselves in the marketplace and provides performance benchmarking that contributes to continual business improvement. While customer service and facilities are an important part of the accreditation, so too are the marina’s policies and procedures framework, its emergency response equipment, and its environmental management practices. Clean Marina is a global program designed to eliminate pollution, protect and enhance waterways, improve air quality and create sustainable marina businesses. The accreditation process provides robust best management practices that help to deliver environmental compliance and meet community expectations. It leads operations through an easy-to-follow process which assesses over 60 criteria across the marina’s operation including compliance, facility management, emergency preparedness and boat education. Fish Friendly is an add-on accreditation available to marinas that provide beneficial fish habitats. Unless staff are trained in their use, best practice procedures, processes and response protocols are of no use. The MIA, through its Marina Training Institute (MTI), offers a suite of training courses that provide staff with compliance information and basic best practice guidelines and responses through accessible and affordable online training courses. Information is contextualised to marina settings and is brought to life through real case studies and in some cases during virtual sessions with industry experts. These courses include: 1. Environmental Best Practices 2. Marina Work Health & Safety Best Practices 3. Extreme Weather Preparedness 4. Oil Spill Response 5. Emergency Preparedness Training provides staff with confidence in how to do their job in a compliant, safe and efficient way and prepares them to identify potential problems and manage incidents and is a critical part of any risk management strategy. In addition to the above courses, the MTI offers technical courses such as Straddle Carrier Operations and Management Courses. As a foundation partner of the Global Marina Institute (GMI), the MIA delivers specialised marina management courses – there are two levels, intermediate and advanced. Both are intensive fiveday residential courses that focus on in-depth management and leadership issues such as facility operations, marina design and development and profit maximisation. Successful completion of the management courses, along with at least five years of industry experience, qualifies marina professionals to apply for Certified Membership. Certified Marina Managers are highly regarded, well-trained, experienced marina managers. There are over 400 active CMM's worldwide, accredited through the Global Marina Institute (GMI) which is an educational partnership between the British Marine (BM) and MIA. The certification is also delivered in the USA by the Association of Marina Industries. All Certified Members are required to complete a minimum of 30 hours of professional development per year to retain their active status. A marina’s voluntary participation in accreditation programs, certification and training provides an insight into a marina’s condition, management practices and its attitude towards environmental and operational compliance and risk management. Insurers are increasingly looking to these programs to help them assess a site’s risk profile, believing they give an insight into management’s approach. Lyndon Turner CEO Nautilus Marine Insurance (NMI) said, “when assessing the risk of a site, we look at the condition of the facility and importantly the plans, systems and processes that the site has in place. We are very pleased when we see that a marina has a rated Gold Anchor or Clean Marina accreditation because it gives us an insight into the culture of the management. Any management team that submits itself to a voluntary, independent assessment of its facilities against such criteria gives us a positive sense of the culture of the site management.” Industry accreditations serve as a mark of quality management and compliance. They are a sign that the facility believes standards are important and that in turn generates trust and credibility. The requirement to re-accredit or engage in professional development ensures continuous improvement remains a priority. If you’d like to know more about industry accreditation and certifications and how they can help your business, the team at the MIA is here to help you. The benefits of an independent operational assessment are invaluable to all stakeholders including marina managers, owners, investors, insurers and landlords, giving them confidence in the effectiveness of management and the marina’s risk profile. INDUSTRY ACCREDITATIONS
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