While the voting procedure for the 2018 SAFETY4SEA Awards is open, Mr. Fared Khan, Marine Director at Wallem Ship Management introduces company’s safety initiatives for which Wallem has been shortlisted in the ‘Dry Bulk Operator’ category alongside a number of other distinguished nominees. Mr. Khan mentions best practices to enhance safety performance onboard and ashore, highlighting that Wallem’s approach focuses on three important elements: Engagement, Empowerment & Wellness. Thus, by engaging with seafarers, empowering them to make sure they make the right decisions and also focusing on wellness to ensure that they are well taken care of, a shipping company can achieve safety record. Nonetheless, when achieved, this should not be taken for granted because safety enhancement is a continuous effort, Mr Khan adds, citing his company’s actions.
SAFETY4SEA: Your organization has been shortlisted for the 2018 SAFETY4SEA Awards in the ‘Dry Bulk Operator’ category alongside a number of other distinguished nominees. What is the background and the key drivers behind this nomination/shortlisting?
Fared Khan: Over the more than 115 years that Wallem has been providing maritime solutions, we have developed vast experience in managing a range of vessel types including tankers, gas carriers, PCTCs and dry bulk carriers.
We are very proud to have been shortlisted for this award in recognition of managing dry bulk carriers for our customers to the highest safety standards and with a focus on compliance and crew competence.
S4S: When it comes to tackling the safety challenges around the shipping sector, what are the key priorities on your agenda?
F.Kh.: The Safety of our seafarers onboard and ensuring that they return home safely to their families at the end of their time at sea is our key priority. Every single incident is reported, even things such as minor cuts, so that safety initiatives can be continuously reviewed and improved. While we have seen a marked improvement in safety (with a 50% reduction in P&I claims over the past 3 years), we aren’t interested in publishing impressive figures of number of days without incidents. This is because every single minor incident is considered as something which should not happen. In addition to the safety of people, the protection of the environment and our customers’ assets come in close succession. All three of these priorities are key to ensuring operational efficiency.
S4S: Which best practices would you recommend from your perspective to enhance safety performance onboard and ashore?
F.Kh.: We recommend the following:
- Make safety a priority. Our goal is zero injuries, zero incidents and zero spills.
- We have a comprehensive Safety and Operational Excellence roadmap which focuses on People, Processes and Assets to ensure flawless execution and achieve this goal. Some initiatives include resilience training, awareness and training on chronic unease, a lean Behaviour-based safety system and the “Our vessel, our home” programme aimed at reinforcing pride and teamwork in operating Wallem vessels safely and efficiently.
- Transparent, honest and open communication.
- Reviewing and learning from mistakes – we publish Safety Digests every month with safety lessons from both industry and managed vessels so that our seafarers and support teams ashore can learn from others’ mistakes
S4S: Do you have any new projects on the pipeline and/or plans, related with your safety performance that you would like to share with the industry?
F.Kh.: We are proud to have an industry-leading safety record but this is not something we take for granted, safety enhancement onboard is a continuous effort and is something which is addressed both in pre-joining training for seafarers, reinforced through on-going refresher training and during our Wallem Fleet Officers Meetings held regularly throughout the year. We have recently launched a new crewing system that enhances our service to both owners and our seafarers, for example allowing them full visibility over their training needs.
Training at our Wallem training centres includes the promotion of awareness on the issue of chronic unease and in helping our seafarers build up a healthy level of this to manage risks effectively. We also recently added a Resilience module to our programme. The training has been tailored with Wallem-specific case studies. It is aimed at arming seafarers (and indeed support teams onshore) with techniques and strategies to help them better cope with life and work pressures.
On the process side we recently digitised our Wallem Safety Management system, simplifying it and focusing on making the functionality as user-friendly as possible. It has been well received by teams onboard who are finding that it is a much more efficient way of complying with procedures and processes.
S4S: What is your key message for enhancing safety culture onboard?
F.Kh.: Our key message and focus for enhancing safety culture onboard can be summed up in the following three words: Engagement, Empowerment & Wellness. We engage with our seafarers, we empower them to make sure they make the right decisions and we focus on wellness to ensure that they are well taken care of.
You may cast your vote for Wallem Ship Management at 2018 SAFETY4SEA Awards dedicated webpage till 7th of September 2018!
The views presented hereabove are only those of the author and not necessarily those of SAFETY4SEA and are for information sharing and discussion purposes only.
Its interesting and good to know about new approach of enhancing safety culture on-board. Believe such ideas will helps to achieving goals of keeping/staying safe of seafarers at sea .
Very interesting interview.