Most companies have some kind of system for tracking certifications. Maybe it’s a spreadsheet that HR maintains. Maybe it’s a folder in SharePoint where copies of course certificates are saved as they come in. Maybe there’s a field in the HR system that gets updated when someone asks. For day-to-day use, any one of these approaches is usually good enough. There’s nothing wrong with the method — it works, until a certification slips through.
Situation 1: The person arrives at the rig meeting — and their certification expired two weeks ago
Anders is ready to go offshore. The helicopter is booked, the kit is packed, the relief schedule is in place. At the rig meeting, the safety officer checks certifications and discovers that his BOSIET lapsed two weeks ago. Anders can’t travel.
A replacement needs to be found the same day — someone with the right certification, available, and not just back from a long rotation. The helicopter booking is cancelled and rebooked. The coordinator spends half the day correcting something that should never have happened. The direct cost is manageable. What’s harder to ignore is that the certification had been expired for two weeks and nobody knew.
Situation 2: An audit reveals gaps — and it’s too late to fix them
A client or regulatory authority requests documentation of certification status for all employees who were offshore during a specific twelve-month period. Someone starts pulling the data and discovers that three employees were assigned jobs during periods when one or more of their certifications weren’t current.
It wasn’t intentional. It wasn’t careless — it simply wasn’t caught. But the audit finding requires an explanation, and the explanation is always uncomfortable: the system wasn’t good enough to catch it.
Situation 3: The certification is registered — just in the wrong system
Lena’s GWO certification was renewed last spring. HR recorded it in the personnel system. The coordinator’s Excel file wasn’t updated — that wasn’t her responsibility. The scheduling tool doesn’t connect to the personnel system. Three systems, none of them complete.
The certification is “registered”. It’s just not where people look when they’re booking assignments. When Lena is assigned to the next rotation, her GWO status is still showing yellow in the coordinator’s view — and nobody knows whether that’s because the renewal hasn’t been done, or because nobody has updated the right file.
Situation 4: Nobody received the renewal reminder
Certifications typically expire one to two years after completion. Without automatic alerts, renewal depends on someone remembering to check — either regularly, or because someone asks. When the coordinator has a lot on, is on leave, or simply doesn’t think about it, nothing happens. The certification expires quietly. The employee finds out when they’re stopped at the rig meeting.
What many companies don’t realise is that this isn’t a rare exception. It’s a pattern that repeats itself in organisations that rely on manual systems and individual memory for something that should be automated.
It costs more than it looks
The direct cost of a missed certification is usually manageable — a replacement flight, a delayed shift, a few hours of chaos. The real cost is what it says about the system: if it happened once, it has probably happened before without anyone noticing. And it will happen again.
Companies that have moved to real-time certification tracking — where a coordinator cannot confirm an assignment unless all required certifications are valid — report zero such incidents. Not because they’re more careful. Because the system doesn’t let them make the mistake. That’s what Markular Skills is built for: one place where all certifications are current, all alerts are automatic, and no assignment can slip through a gap.
