In 2019, Together in Safety, a consortium of maritime organizations and companies, launched 9 ‘Golden Safety Rules’ to help improve shipping’s safety performance.
Following a review of fatal incident reports across all sectors of the shipping industry, Together in Safety has now included an additional golden rule, comprising 10 areas of attention in total for every company and every seafarer to adopt in their everyday work to prevent injuries and fatalities.
The additional rule aims to highlight that distractions can have disastrous effects on safety vigilance. It is essential there are no distractions which impede your focus on safety duties.
6 key actions for safety vigilance
ALWAYS
- Comply with the company policy on avoiding distractions, such as cell phones, laptops, or tablets, to ensure full focus on safe operations.
- Only conduct activities required for the safe operation of the vessel.
- Plan tasks with care to avoid simultaneous activities (SIMOPS).
- Maintain a professional workplace.
- Ensure that only personnel with immediate ships’ business are permitted access to the bridge, engine room, and cargo areas.
- Ensure the team takes regular breaks, especially where tasks are repetitive.
7 actions to avoid while on duty
NEVER
x Use or have a personal mobile phone available while on duty.
x Use or have a personal tablet or laptop available while on duty.
x Engage in personal social media or messaging activity while on duty.
x Be overloaded by electronic communications, including internal and external VHF calls (including those for collision avoidance) – will call the supervisor/Master for backup.
x Allow oneself to be distracted by repetitive alarms, risking alarm fatigue.
x Be disrupted by non-essential activity, such as visitors to the ship and to the bridge (or engine room), including colleagues, shore personnel, contractors, cargo, and other representatives.
x Read or have available to read newspapers, magazines, or other leisure material while on duty or supervising onboard activities.
