Enforcing safety practices
The Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority (SBMA) has stressed the importance of safety for companies in the maritime and shipbuilding sector in the free port.
SBMA director Norberto Sosa, a marine and terminal operations expert, stressed that local firms should exert extra efforts to keep the industry safe and help erase the image as a disaster-prone country.
“We are being known for maritime disasters. I do not want that to continue. There should be visible management commitment to safety,” he told representatives of maritime firms here.”
There are lessons to be learned in recent accidents in the shipbuilding industry, particularly the tragedy that struck the Keppel shipyard in Subic, Zambales, he said.
Sosal also emphasized that business locators in the Subic Bay Freeport should place safety on equal footing with business objectives.
A committee has been organized by the SBMA to conduct safety inspections of the different shipyards and drydocks in the free port.
Director Wilfredo Pineda has assured locators that SBMA has done its part in enforcing safety practices, as the Subic Bay Freeport now hosts several shipbuilding and repair companies, including Hanjin Heavy Industries, Co., Ltd., the fourth largest shipbuilder in the world.
Source: Manila Bulletin
