Skuld P&I Club loss prevention bulletin
The Skuld P&I Club has issued a loss prevention bulletin on the ISM Code and its compliance for tanker vessels.
The International Safety Management Code comes with a mandatory compliance requirement by virtue of its adoption in to SOLAS (Safety of Life at Sea) Chapter IX, and has come in to force since 1st July 1998. The background for the Code is certain tragic Shipping accidents including the Herald of Free Enterprise in 1987 and the loss of the Estonia in 1994.
Under the Code, effective for most vessels (including Tankers) of 500 gt and above from 1998 and for other cargo ships and mobile offshore drilling units of 500 gt and above from 2002, Companies needed to develop, implement and maintain a Safety Management Systems (SMS) for their vessels. Compliance requires both shore (Management) and ship side (Officers and Ratings) implementation
The Code aims to ensure safety at sea, the prevention of injury to ensure safety at sea, the prevention of injury and loss of life, and protection of the marine environment, in addition to ensuring safe practices on vessels and the creation of a safe working environment for crews. An unmentioned objective is the sustainability of the maritime industry.
While the Code requires that Companies develop such a SMS for their vessels, it was left broadly open as to the termms and was deliberately intended to be sufficient flexible to allow adoption by companies of varying sizes and across different industry sectors.
Regrettably, at times, the Code has been treated as a form filling and check list exercise. It is seen by many as an administrative burden on vessels, without the desired positive effect on safety. That is quite the wrong impression to form.
The Code not only provides the basis on which companies can develop essential Safety systems, aling with the procedures to allow these to be checked and followed up, but compliance is typically required under Charterparties as well as insurance coverage.
One shipping sector that has had particular reason to be keenly aware of the necessity of compliance as well as the consequences of a failure to comply is that of Tanker Owners.
Learn more about the compliance issues identified as well as the reasons for ship and shore compliance failures by reading loss prevention bulletin – ISM Compliance for Tanker Vessels , issued by the The Skuld P&I Club
Source: The Skuld P&I Club
