MSC 91 held in London, on 26-30 November 2012
MSC 91 was held in London on 26-30 November 2012 under the chairmanship of Deputy Director-General of the Danish Maritime Authority Christian Breinholt.
Code on protection against noise on board ships
The Committee adopted a mandatory code for the protection of seafarers against noise on board (the Noise Code). The Code lays down the permitted maximum noise limits on ships to protect seafarers against noise and contains detailed provisions on how to carry out the necessary measurements to ensure compliance with the noise levels. It was decided that the Code enters into force on 1 July 2014 since it will apply to ships for which a building contract is concluded on or after 1 July 2014, or the keel of which is laid on or after 1 January 2015, or which are delivered on or after 1 July 2018.
Enhanced passenger ship safety
As a follow-up on the COSTA CONCORDIA accident in January 2012, the Maritime Safety Committee initi-ated a scrutiny of existing safety regulations and supplementary guidelines on safe operation of passenger ships in the spring of 2012. The result of this was a number of recommendations that the passenger ship companies were urged to incorporate into their safety procedures.
At the same time, a number of relevant long-term initiatives were identified so that they could be considered by the IMO upon the proposal of the member States.
Before this session, it was expected that it would be possible to present the casualty investigation report at this meeting just as the Maritime Safety Committee could, on the basis hereof, assess the need to launch new independent measures.
Though it became evident at the meeting that the casualty investigation had not yet been finalized, it was – considering the special circumstances of the accident – decided to establish a working group on passenger ship safety to assess and, if relevant, follow up on the information that had in the meantime become avail-able about the accident.
Against this background, it was decided at the meeting to make the regulations on the mustering of pas-sengers on board passenger ships stricter when these passengers are to be accommodated on board for more than 24 hours. According to the proposal, musters must thus take place before departure or shortly after the ship’s departure from the port in which the passengers have embarked. Furthermore, it was agreed to tighten up the recommendations on musters so that shipping companies and masters are to strive for all passengers to take part in the musters planned.
Finally, it was agreed as a long-term measure that the guidelines on the planning of voyages should to a greater extent emphasize the need for a thorough evaluation of changes to the planned voyage if such changes were made during the voyage and were not made on the basis of navigational or weather-related conditions.
The ISM Code
Denmark had, in close cooperation with the other EU member States, strived for an approval of a number of proposals for amendments to the ISM Code and its associated instruments. The overall aim was to stress the company’s responsibility for assessing whether the crew was sufficient for the ship’s operation and to specify the company’s responsibility for ensuring that the ISM-related tasks delegated out to sub-contractors meet the safety standards of the ISM Code.
The proposal that had been drawn up by the so-called Human Element Working Group was approved by the Maritime Safety Committee with a single amendment on the use of footnotes with a view to adoption at the next session of Committee to be held in June 2013.
Guidelines on safety when transferring persons at sea
Occasioned by a tragic incident where a seafarer died when embarking a ship in the roads on a winter day, Denmark had submitted a proposal for the IMO, containing a number of Danish recommendations on safety when transferring persons at sea.
The Danish recommendations were well received and the Maritime Safety Committee decided to draw up IMO guidelines on safety when transferring persons at sea on the basis hereof. The Committee decided that the work should be carried out by the Sub-Committee on Standards of Training and Watchkeeping within the Human Element Working Group in the spring of 2013.
New ship standards and the use of risk analyses
Goal-Based Standards (GBS) is an overall framework tool for the standards according to which ships are to be built. In the longer term, it is expected that the new tools will create the framework of future international regulations on the construction of ships and will help develop innovative ship designs without compromising safety.
At the meeting, it was sought to further develop a common definition of the so-called “safety level approach”, which is a risk-based approach where an assessment of a number of risk factors is included, for example the risk of human errors when assessing the safety of a ship design.
In addition, further work was made on guidelines for the approval and promotion of new and innovative ship designs that could not be encompassed by current SOLAS regulations. Originally, the guidelines were sub-mitted by Denmark in connection with the so-called SAFEDOR project.
This work was not finalized and therefore it is now continued in a correspondence group with a view to being finalized at the next session of the Maritime Safety Committee to be held in June 2013.
Piracy
During a number of sessions, the Committee had been working on a number of initiatives for combating piracy. A great deal of this work had already been implemented and therefore this meeting contained only general information about the trend in the number of acts of piracy and armed robbery. Furthermore, in-formation was provided about the status of the development of a new standard for privately contracted armed security personnel developed by ISO, while work was ongoing finalizing a supplementary standard that could be used as guidance when approving such security personnel.
The Committee agreed to continue the efforts made so far to combat piracy and that it was important to re-port acts of piracy in order to acquire extensive knowledge about developments herein and thereby con-tribute to arranging the efforts to be made to combat piracy in the best possible way.
New regulations
The Committee adopted amendments to chapter II-2 of the SOLAS Convention on fire-safety concerning the so-called Fire Safety Systems (FSS) Code, new regulations on communication equipment for fire-fighters in connection with fire-fighting as well as requirements for equipment for recharging air bottles for fire-fighters. In addition, requirements will now be introduced on the procedures for the rescue of persons from the water. These regulations will enter into force on 1 July 2014.
Coming regulations
The Maritime Safety Committee approved the IMO Instruments Implementation Code, which was to form the basis for making it mandatory for all member States to be subject to an audit with a view to examining whether the member States meet their obligations under the maritime conventions on maritime safety and protection of the marine environment. Since the new regulations concern a number of conventions, a plan has been drawn up on how to adopt them at coming IMO meetings before they can enter into force.
Furthermore, the Maritime Safety Committee approved new regulations on the recognition and authorisation of classification societies to perform survey and certification of ships on behalf of flag States. The so-called RO Code stipulates a number of requirements for what the classification societies must meet in order to be approved and authorised to perform surveys of ships on behalf of flag States. The regulations are to be adopted at the next session of the Maritime Safety Committee before they can enter into force.
Source: Danish Maritime Authority
