It is true, at the trial of the accident, we found the Townsend Thoresen company "was working very poorly from a safety point of view” (Lord Justice SHEEN dixit) while at this time this ferry company was seen by all of us (European ferry officers) as one of the best in the world in its field. Incredible!
Designed on an existing ISO 9002 skeleton and adapted to an organization/management of safety/pollution prevention for a shipping company and its ships, the ISM code focuses on the application of existing rules and recommendations, particularly on the preparation of the company, their ships and crews to deal with normal conditions and emergencies. Today it's true, by requiring shipowners to apply mandatory rules and taking into account the recommendations of the sector and especially those coming from experience of accidents in our industry, being at almost 30 years of adolescence, we would think that the “adult ISM philosophy” is now fully understood and applied effectively!
Finally, NOT at ALL
New in the approach to maritime safety and orphan of a concomitant specific training, the mandatory ISM code is too often misunderstood and therefore poorly applied by companies, captains and seafarers while they continue to work apparently around the world and we sometimes wonder, if this imperfect functioning could ultimately be ... voluntary?
Why are we at this point?
Firstly, as an official text, no matter how perfect it is, it always includes some mistakes or dark areas, which we try to rectify step by step. So, the ISM code has unfortunately some weaknesses and fortunately some strengths but, some parts are still fuzzy ... could they be voluntarily fuzzy?
So, to understand we're going to analyze a completely unbearable situation that could perhaps reveal a "scam"...
2.
The most significant strong points of the ISM Code
In its preamble, the code reminds us that IMO has called governments to take the necessary measures to protect the ship's Master in the proper exercise of his/her responsibilities for safety and protection of the marine environment on board his/her ship.
- ISM is an international code for organizing and managing safety of ships in a standard format with clearly stated objectives and measures to attain them.
- The Code has to ensure, at a minimum, compliance with mandatory rules and regulations and take into account, as far as possible and reasonable, other recommendations of our industry including those coming from feedback analysis.
- The Code is a norm written in general terms which allows a necessary adaptation as the safety of modern vessels evolves rapidly.
- For the first time accident feedback analysis is required in our industry! - The Code is a complement to the requirements of SOLAS that company and ship being ready at all times to respond to emergencies which includes all those possible ... depending on the type of ship and its operations of course.
The DPA system (Designated Person Ashore) - unique in the industry - was designated to “monitor” safety in the operation of the Safety Management System (SMS), with the help of the Master on board independently of its application by the usual executives of a shipping company who are superintendent, fleet director, technical director or other safety manager.
All anomalies, concerning safety or environmental protection must be communicated to the DPA which has a direct link with the highest level, are in theory communicated to all the management of the company, which will no longer be able to take advantage of “non- knowledge” (legally speaking) in the event of an accident resulting from these anomalies. This person, designated by top management itself, theoretically avoids possible blockages between the needs of the ship and the resources allocated by the company by informing management in a direct and safe manner!
THE REPORT | DEC 2024 | ISSUE 110 | 95
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