Tag: ISM Code

A total of 934 ships registered under 63 flags were detained due to serious deficiencies onboard in the Tokyo MoU region in 2018, according to Tokyo MoU annual report on PSC. The number of detentions, the detention rate and number of under-performing ships continued to decrease in 2018. ISM remained prevalent cause of detention. 

During the 2019 SAFETY4SEA London Forum, Captain Mark Bull, Principal, Trafalgar Navigation, noted that as an industry, when it comes to navigation safety there is no industry wide leading indicator system; Surprisingly, the ISM Code does not even mention navigation.

This article attempts to clarify the difference between terms Observation, Non-conformity or Major Non-conformity, as defined by ISM Code, and explain with an example how to handle effectively any ‘non-fulfilled’ requirement that has been found onboard and may pose risks to safe operations.

The purpose of the International Safety Management (ISM) Code is to provide an international standard for the safe management and operation of ships and for pollution prevention. The ISM Code in its mandatory form was adopted in 1993 by resolution A.741(18) and entered into force on 1 July 1998. 

As the UK Maritime and Coastguard Agency proceeded to seize Tecoil Polaris, the master of the small product tanker Tecoil Polaris, Vitaliy Trofimov, was found guilty and was ordered to pay an overdue $34,000 fine for major ISM code violations.  

There are numerous of questions arising concerning the term “quality”. Most of these questions are focusing on what quality is in practice and who actually defines the required items that make an organization quality compliant. Generally, quality refers to reliability, efficiency and good performance and seeks to reach all stakeholders’ satisfaction, as this is the major factor that defines the requirements on which the organization will finally focus on.

The term “safety maturity” is used by organizations to assess their performance and their capability to maintain an enhanced safety management status. Safety maturity shows the level at which any organization can manage its actions and manipulate its internal procedures, resulting in a better safety performance promoting what is called: safety culture.

Safety culture and safety climate are similar terms describing an organization’s approach to safety, not only the visible efforts or attitudes its members chose to adopt, but also every mental function that defines their overall behavior. In other words, the climate is an item which is easily perceived by others while culture is the basis that lies hidden under the surface.

It has been 20 years since the ISM code became mandatory. Widely known as the ‘International Safety Management Code’, its implementation was a landmark for shipping industry given that for the first time, each shipping organization was obliged to develop an effective safety management.

A PSC inspection resulting to useful case studies and/ or lessons learned for ship operators, aims to pave the way for improvement. The global PSC system includes many different regions (9 MoUs and USCG), facilitating PSCOs to shed their focus on different levels of PSC and sub-standard items all over the world.