Serious mitigation anyway
As always, we should not generalize, some players in safety management are doing very well and in general, they are those who make less noise. Much closer to the spirit of the ISM pioneers (self-management of safety), some companies have implemented SMS systems of a great simplicity and efficiency concomitant for the greater success of a safety culture acquired and preserved in their activity. These are often maritime "niches" where leaders have "feet on the ground". Weirdly these companies are not valued even internationally, perhaps because they do not do as everyone else and perhaps their flag has no desire to communicate within the IMO either.
What could we do?
A supporter of the ISM code for a long time, I do not give up, but I think we could look at an improvement in the text of the code, which could thus enlighten those who do not want to see and gain in understanding. Such a proposal will require a complete review of the text of the code itself, considering the associated circulars already published but completed, if necessary.
NB. This will be the occasion of another article such as Plea for a new ISM code.
And remember, such a proposal to revise the code can only go through a member country, so we will have to go through a flag delegation to the IMO. Another challenge indeed!
10.
Final conclusion
If the title of this article was deliberately catchy in its terms "maritime scam of the century", the content must have reassured you and the balance sheet is not so catastrophic! With the improvements proposed above, we should be much more confident about the future.
But the time to change things is very long in our industry. Examples are numerous and after 30 years how long will we still to wait for a complete review of the ISM code? In fact, among those who devote their time to improving maritime safety and who have focused on the ISM code, the most successful users are Captains or former Captains with solid experience at sea, crew management and onboard safety organization experience.
All are unanimous in confirming that the centrepiece of the actual application of the code is the ship’s captain and they base their action on it. But the Master, in case of accident, is the man/woman who will pay the bill in the end. It seems the harmful consequences of a poor implementation of the ISM code are attributed to the Master only! Maybe, it’s for that reason shipowners don't want to hear about any ISM code review or about the Master's protection. The courts and so-called maritime lawyers continue to superbly ignore the code and focus on human error or more accurately on the Ship Captain's underperformance.
In France, the Ship Masters' Association was created as a result of the French law act of 1975 on the total responsibility of the Master in case of accident. It is true that in popular imagery of a ship's Master, sometimes a great navigator or a great sailor is often poorly considered. (Our colleague F. Schettino was also demolished for his private life)!
After having been a pirate or mercenary, then trafficker in drugs or migrants, he nevertheless remained a kind of adventurer who today, the icing on the cake, is a big polluter.
With such a CV, obviously at trial, the conviction is assured! THE REPORT | DEC 2024 | ISSUE 110 | 103
Written in 2020 and reviewed in 2024 by Capt Bertrand APPERRY, AFEXMAR AFCAN HYDROS. Email:
bertrand.apperry@
orange.fr
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