Awarded on August 24, Silversea’s Silver Spirit became the first ultra-luxury cruise vessel to sail with a CIP-M (certification in infection prevention for maritime) from DNV GL, the leading classification society in the world.
Silversea's certification demonstrates the commitment of the cruise line to enhancing onboard sanitation protocols to further protect the safety, health, and wellbeing of its passengers and crew.
The CIP-M programme is built on the expertise of DNV GL Healthcare in infection risk management.
Using the experience from 4,000+ audits in 640+ hospitals worldwide, experts from the Cruise Center of DNV GL Maritime in Miami Florida and leading medical professionals, tailored the infection prevention programme for hospitals in order to meet the needs of operators and shipowners.
The certification is built upon a unique combination of infection prevention expertise and technical maritime knowledge and is the most comprehensive infection prevention certification currently available in the maritime industry.
The new 3-year certification of Silver Spirit is tailored to the cruise ship and has been awarded after a close audit of all operations’ aspects. Following an initial company audit that concluded on August 5, a comprehensive onboard survey was completed on August 14. Focus areas of the audits featured:
- the line’s COVID outbreak prevention and response plan
- infection prevention leadership and communication flow
- medical equipment management
- infection risk management processes.
Via annual company audits ashore and surveys onboard, DNV GL verifies that the company maintains a detailed operational plan in compliance with CIP-M requirements. Integrating maritime-specific standards like the US CDC Vessel Sanitation Program, the teams of healthcare experts of DNV GL perform the certification surveys in combination with maritime auditors, resulting in a depth of expertise.