Sbso Final

Contents
ISM Code and Safety Officer Role ..............................................................................................3
1. The ISM Code Outline ......................................................................................................3
PART A Implementation ......................................................................................................4
PART B Certification and Verification ............................................................................... 12
1a: The Law and the UK Regulations ................................................................................... 18
2. The ISM Code: Procedures and People .............................................................................. 21
2.1. The Shipboard Manual Subjects ISF/ICS Suggestions .............................................. 23
2.2. Who Does What? ........................................................................................................ 25
2.3. Audits and Reviews .................................................................................................... 31
3. You as the Safety Officer ................................................................................................... 35
What Are The Duties Of Ship Safety Officer (SSO)? ............................................................ 35
3.1. What Is Safety Management System (SMS) On Ships? ............................................... 37
3.2. Your Role as the Safety Officer ................................................................................... 42
4. Safety Committee............................................................................................................... 46
4.1. What Is a Safety Committee on Ships? ........................................................................ 46
4.2. Who should take part?................................................................................................. 49
4.3. Organization ............................................................................................................... 52
4.4. How to run a meeting? ................................................................................................ 57
5. Shipboard Familiarization under STCW ............................................................................. 62
5.1. Planning ...................................................................................................................... 64
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6. Safety Training .................................................................................................................. 74
6.1. Principles .................................................................................................................... 75
6.2. Preparation.................................................................................................................. 76
6.3. Training ...................................................................................................................... 79
6.4. Follow-up ................................................................................................................... 83
7. Creating a Safety Culture ................................................................................................... 88
7.1. The Safety Culture of Shipping Company ................................................................... 89
7.2. Creating a Safety Culture ............................................................................................ 92
7.3. The New Approach to Safety ...................................................................................... 99
8. Risk Assessment .............................................................................................................. 109
8.1. General ..................................................................................................................... 109
8.2. Risk assessment process ........................................................................................... 111
9. How to Apply Risk Assessment?...................................................................................... 132
9.1. Operational Areas ..................................................................................................... 133
10. Safety Inspection .......................................................................................................... 145
10.1. Safety Inspections: Process .................................................................................... 145
11. Permit to Work Systems ............................................................................................... 155
12. Accident Investigation .................................................................................................. 166
13. Emergency Procedures I. .............................................................................................. 181
14. Emergency Procedures II. ............................................................................................. 192
15. Safety on Board & Advice to Safety Officers................................................................ 205
15.1. Safety on Board ..................................................................................................... 205
15.2. Advice to safety officer ......................................................................................... 212
16. SSM Safety Officer Test ............................................................................................... 221
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ISM Code and Safety Officer Role
1. The ISM Code Outline
Foreword
With the entry into force, on 1 July 1998, of the 1994 amendments to the International
Convention for the Safety of life at Sea (SOLAS), 1974, which introduced a new chapter IX into
the Convention, the International Safety Management (ISM) Code has been made mandatory.
Chapter IX was amended by resolution MSC.99(73), which was accepted on 1 January 2002 and
will enter into force on 1 July 2002. This is the date on which the ISM Code will become
mandatory for a wider range of cargo ships and for mobile offshore drilling units.
The Code's origins go back to the late 1980s, when there was mounting concern about poor
management standards in shipping. Investigations into accidents revealed major errors on the
part of management and in 1987 the IMO Assembly adopted resolution A.596(15), which called
upon the Maritime Safety Committee to develop guidelines concerning shipboard and shore-
based management to ensure the safe operation of ro-ro passenger ferries.
The ISM Code evolved through the development of the Guidelines on Management for the Safe
Operation of Ships and for Pollution Prevention, adopted in 1989 by the IMO Assembly as
resolution A.647(16), and the revised Guidelines, adopted two years later as resolution
A.680(17), to its current form, the International Management Code for the Safe Operation of
Ships and for Pollution Prevention (International Safety Management (ISM) Code), which was
adopted in 1993 as resolution A.741 (18). This Code was amended in December 2000 by
resolution MSC.1 04(73). This resolution was accepted on 1 January 2002, and the amendments
will enter into force on 1 July 2002.
In 1995, the IMO Assembly, recognizing the need for uniform implementation of the ISM Code
and that there might be a need for Administrations to enter into agreements in respect of the
issuance of certificates by other Administrations in accordance with SOLAS chapter IX and the
ISM Code, adopted the Guidelines on Implementation of the International Safety Management
(ISM) Code by Administrations by resolution A.788(19). These Guidelines were replaced with
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Revised Guidelines, which were adopted by resolution A.913(22) in November 2001. This
resolution revokes resolution A.788(19) as of 1 July 2002.
PREAMBLE
1. The purpose of this Code is to provide an international standard for the safe management and
operation of ships and for pollution prevention.
2. The Assembly adopted resolution A.443(XI), by which it invited all Governments to take the
necessary steps to safeguard the shipmaster in the proper discharge of his responsibilities with
regard to maritime safety and the protection of the marine environment.
3. The Assembly also adopted resolution A.680(17), by which it further recognized the need for
appropriate organization of management to enable it to respond to the need of those on board
ships to achieve and maintain high standards of safety and environmental protection.
4. Recognizing that no two shipping companies or shipowners are the same, and that ships
operate under a wide range of different conditions, the Code is based on general principles and
objectives.
5. The Code is expressed in broad terms so that it can have a widespread application. Clearly,
different levels of management, whether shore based or at sea, will require varying levels of
knowledge and awareness of the items outlined.
6. The cornerstone of good safety management is commitment from the top. In matters of safety
and pollution prevention it is the commitment, competence, attitudes and motivation of
individuals at all levels that determines the end result.
PART A Implementation
1 GENERAL
1.1 Definitions
The following definitions apply to parts A and B of this Code.
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1.1.1 International Safety Management (ISM) Code means the International Management Code
for the Safe Operation of Ships and for Pollution Prevention as adopted by the Assembly, as
may be amended by the Organization.
1.1.2 Company means the owner of the ship or any other organization or person such as the
manager, or the bareboat charterer, who has assumed the responsibility for operation of the ship
from the shipowner and who, on assuming such responsibility, has agreed to take over all duties
and responsibility imposed by the Code.
1.1.3 Administration means the Government of the State whose flag the ship is entitled to fly.
1.1.4 Safety management system means a structured and documented system enabling Company
personnel to implement effectively the Company safety and environmental protection policy.
1.1.5 Document of Compliance means a document issued to a Company which complies with
the requirements of this Code.
1.1.6 Safety Management Certificate means a document issued to a ship which signifies that the
Company and its shipboard management operate in accordance with the approved safety
management system.
1.1.7 Objective evidence means quantitative or qualitative information, records or statements of

fact pertaining to safety or to the existence and implementation of a safety management system
element, which is based on observation, measurement or test and which can be verified.
1.1.8 Observation means a statement of fact made during a safety management audit and
substantiated by objective evidence.
1.1.9 Non-conformity means an observed situation where objective evidence indicates the non-
fulfilment of a specified requirement.
1.1.10 Major non-conformity means an identifiable deviation that poses a serious threat to the
safety of personnel or the ship or a serious risk to the environment that requires immediate
corrective action and includes the lack of effective and systematic implementation of a
requirement of this Code.
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1.1.11 Anniversary date means the day and month of each year that corresponds to the date of
expiry of the relevant document or certificate.
1.1.12 Convention means the International Convention for the Safety of Life at Sea, 1974, as
amended.
1.2 Objectives
1.2.1 The objectives of the Code are to ensure safety at sea, prevention of human injury or loss
of life, and avoidance of damage to the environment, in particular to the marine environment and
to property.
1.2.2 Safety management objectives of the Company should, inter alia:
.1 provide for safe practices in ship operation and a safe working environment;
.2 establish safeguards against all identified risks; and
.3 continuously improve safety management skills of personnel ashore and aboard ships,
including preparing for emergencies related both to safety and environmental protection.
1.2.3 The safety management system should ensure:
.1 compliance with mandatory rules and regulations; and
.2 that applicable codes, guidelines and standards recommended by the Organization,

Administrations, classification societies and maritime industry organizations are taken
into account.
1.3 Application
The requirements of this Code may be applied to all ships.
1.4 Functional requirements for a safety management system
Every Company should develop, implement and maintain a safety management system which
includes the following functional requirements:
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.1 a safety and environmental-protection policy;
.2 instructions and procedures to ensure safe operation of ships and

protection of the environment in compliance with relevant international and flag
State legislation;
.3 defined levels of authority and lines of communication between, and

amongst, shore and shipboard personnel;
.4 procedures for reporting accidents and non-conformities with the

provisions of this Code;
.5 procedures to prepare for and respond to emergency situations; and
.6 procedures for internal audits and management reviews.
2 SAFETY AND ENVIRONMENTAL-PROTECTION POLICY
2.1 The Company should establish a safety and environmental-protection policy which describes
how the objectives given in paragraph 1.2 will be achieved.
2.2 The Company should ensure that the policy is implemented and maintained at all levels of
the organization, both ship-based and shore-based.
3 COMPANY RESPONSIBILITIES AND AUTHORITY
3.1 If the entity who is responsible for the operation of the ship is other than the owner, the
owner must report the full name and details of such entity to the Administration.
3.2 The Company should define and document the responsibility, authority and interrelation of
all personnel who manage, perform and verify work relating to and affecting safety and pollution
prevention.
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3.3 The Company is responsible for ensuring that adequate resources and shore-based support
are provided to enable the designated person or persons to carry out their functions.
4 DESIGNATED PERSON(S)
To ensure the safe operation of each ship and to provide a link between the Company and those
on board, every Company, as appropriate, should designate a person or persons ashore having
direct access to the highest level of management. The responsibility and authority of the
designated person or persons should include monitoring the safety and pollution-prevention
aspects of the operation of each ship and ensuring that adequate resources and shore-based
support are applied, as required.
5 MASTERS RESPONSIBILITY AND AUTHORITY
5.1 The Company should clearly define and document the master's
responsibility with regard to:
.1 implementing the safety and environmental-protection policy of the Company;
.2 motivating the crew in the observation of that policy;
.3 issuing appropriate orders and instructions in a clear and simple manner;
.4 verifying that specified requirements are observed; and
.5 reviewing the safety management system and reporting its deficiencies to the shore-
based management.
5.2 The Company should ensure that the safety management system operating on board the
ship contains a clear statement emphasizing the master's authority. The Company should
establish in the safety management system that the master has the overriding authority and the
responsibility to make decisions with respect to safety and pollution prevention and to request
the Company's assistance as may be necessary.
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6 RESOURCES AND PERSONNEL
6.1 The Company should ensure that the master is:
.1 properly qualified for command;
.2 fully conversant with the Company's safety management system; and
.3 given the necessary support so that the master's duties can be safely performed.
6.2 The Company should ensure that each ship is manned with qualified, certificated and
medically fit seafarers in accordance with national and international requirements.
6.3 The Company should establish procedures to ensure that new personnel and personnel
transferred to new assignments related to safety and protection of the environment are given
proper familiarization with their duties. Instructions which are essential to be provided prior to
sailing should be identified, documented and given.
6.4 The Company should ensure that all personnel involved in the Company's safety
management system have an adequate understanding of relevant rules, regulations, codes and
guidelines.
6.5 The Company should establish and maintain procedures for identifying any training which
may be required in support of the safety management system and ensure that such training is
provided for all personnel concerned.
6.6 The Company should establish procedures by which the ship's personnel receive relevant
information on the safety management system in a working language or languages understood by
them.
6.7 The Company should ensure that the ship's personnel are able to communicate effectively in
the execution of their duties related to the safety management system.
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7 DEVELOPMENT OF PLANS FOR SHIPBOARD OPERATIONS
The Company should establish procedures for the preparation of plans and instructions,
including checklists as appropriate, for key shipboard operations concerning the safety of the
ship and the prevention of pollution. The various tasks involved should be defined and assigned
to qualified personnel.
8 EMERGENCY PREPAREDNESS
8.1 The Company should establish procedures to identify, describe and respond to potential
emergency shipboard situations.
8.2 The Company should establish programmes for drills and exercises to prepare for
emergency actions.
8.3 The safety management system should provide for measures ensuring that the Company's
organization can respond at any time to hazards, accidents and emergency situations involving its
ships.
9 REPORTS AND ANALYSIS OF NON-CONFORMITIES, ACCIDENTS AND

HAZARDOUS OCCURRENCES
9.1 The safety management system should include procedures ensuring that non-conformities,
accidents and hazardous situations are reported to the Company, investigated and analysed with
the objective of improving safety and pollution prevention.
9.2 The Company should establish procedures for the implementation of corrective action.
10 MAINTENANCE OF THE SHIP AND EQUIPMENT
10.1 The Company should establish procedures to ensure that the ship is maintained in
conformity with the provisions of the relevant rules and regulations and with any additional
requirements which may be established by the Company.
10.2 In meeting these requirements the Company should ensure that:
.1 inspections are held at appropriate intervals;
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.2 any non-conformity is reported, with its possible cause, if known;
.3 appropriate corrective action is taken; and
.4 records of these activities are maintained.
10.3 The Company should establish procedures in its safety management system to identify
equipment and technical systems the sudden operational failure of which may result in hazardous
situations. The safety management system should provide for specific measures aimed at
promoting the reliability of such equipment or systems. These measures should include the
regular testing of stand-by arrangements and equipment or technical systems that are not in
continuous use.
10.4 The inspections mentioned in 10.2 as well as the measures referred to in 10.3 should be
integrated into the ship's operational maintenance routine.
11 DOCUMENTATION
11.1 The Company should establish and maintain procedures to control all documents and data
which are relevant to the safety management system.
11.2 The Company should ensure that:
.1 valid documents are available at all relevant locations;
.2 changes to documents are reviewed and approved by authorized personnel; and
.3 obsolete documents are promptly removed.
11.3 The documents used to describe and implement the safety management system may be
referred to as the Safety Management Manual. Documentation should be kept in a form that the
Company considers most effective. Each ship should carryon board all documentation relevant to
that ship.
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12 COMPANY VERIFICATION, REVIEW AND EVALUATION
12.1 The Company should carry out internal safety audits to verify whether safety and pollution-
prevention activities comply with the safety management system.
12.2 The Company should periodically evaluate the efficiency of and, when needed, review the
safety management system in accordance with procedures established by the Company.
12.3 The audits and possible corrective actions should be carried out in accordance with
documented procedures.
12.4 Personnel carrying out audits should be independent of the areas being audited unless this is
impracticable due to the size and the nature of the Company.
12.5 The results of the audits and reviews should be brought to the attention of all personnel
having responsibility in the area involved.
12.6 The management personnel responsible for the area involved should take timely corrective
action on deficiencies found.
PART B Certification and Verification
13 CERTIFICATION AND PERIODICAL VERIFICATION
13.1 The ship should be operated by a Company which has been issued with a Document of
Compliance or with an Interim Document of Compliance in accordance with paragraph 14.1,
relevant to that ship.
13.2 The Document of Compliance should be issued by the Administration, by an organization

recognized by the Administration or, at the request of the Administration, by another Contracting
Government to the Convention to any Company complying with the requirements of this Code
for a period specified by the Administration which should not exceed five years. Such a
document should be accepted as evidence that the Company is capable of complying with the
requirements of this Code.
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13.3 The Document of Compliance is only valid for the ship types explicitly indicated in the
document. Such indication should be based on the types of ships on which the initial verification
was based. Other ship types should only be added after verification of the Company's capability
to comply with the requirements of this Code applicable to such ship types. In this context, ship
types are those referred to in regulation IX/1 of the Convention.
13.4 The validity of a Document of Compliance should be subject to annual verification by the
Administration or by an organization recognized by the Administration or, at the request of the
Administration, by another Contracting Government within three months before or after the
anniversary date.
13.5 The Document of Compliance should be withdrawn by the Administration or, at its request,
by the Contracting Government which issued the Document when the annual verification
required in paragraph 13.4 is not requested or if there is evidence of major non-conformities with
this Code.
13.5.1 All associated Safety Management Certificates and/or Interim Safety Management
Certificates should also be withdrawn if the Document of Compliance is withdrawn.
13.6 A copy of the Document of Compliance should be placed on board in order that the master
of the ship, if so requested, may produce it for verification by the Administration or by an
organization recognized by the Administration or for the purposes of the control referred to in
regulation IXj6.2 of the Convention. The copy of the Document is not required to be
authenticated or certified.
13.7 The Safety Management Certificate should be issued to a ship for a period which should not
exceed five years by the Administration or an organization recognized by the Administration or,
at the request of the Administration, by another Contracting Government. The Safety Manage-
ment Certificate should be issued after verifying that the Company and its shipboard
management operate in accordance with the approved safety management system. Such a
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Certificate should be accepted as evidence that the ship is complying with the requirements of
this Code.
13.8 The validity of the Safety Management Certificate should be subject to at least one
intermediate verification by the Administration or an organization recognized by the
Administration or, at the request of the Administration, by another Contracting Government. If
only one intermediate verification is to be carried out and the period of validity of the Safety
Management Certificate is five years, it should take place between the second and third
anniversary dates of the Safety Management Certificate.
13.9 In addition to the requirements of paragraph 13.5.1, the Safety Management Certificate
should be withdrawn by the Administration or, at the request of the Administration, by the
Contracting Government which has issued it when the intermediate verification required in
paragraph 13.8 is not requested or if there is evidence of major non-conformity with this Code.
13.10 Notwithstanding the requirements of paragraphs 13.2 and 13.7, when the renewal
verification is completed within three months before the expiry date of the existing Document of
Compliance or Safety Management Certificate, the new Document of Compliance or the new
Safety Management Certificate should be valid from the date of completion of the renewal
verification for a period not exceeding five years from the date of expiry of the existing
Document of Compliance or Safety Management Certificate.
13.11 When the renewal verification is completed more than three months before the expiry date
of the existing Document of Compliance or Safety Management Certificate, the new Document
of Compliance or the new Safety Management Certificate should be valid from the date of
completion of the renewal verification for a period not exceeding five years from the date of
completion of the renewal verification.
14 INTERIM CERTIFICATION
14.1 An Interim Document of Compliance may be issued to facilitate initial implementation of

this Code when:
.1 a Company is newly established; or
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.2 new ship types are to be added to an existing Document of Compliance,
following verification that the Company has a safety management system that meets the
objectives of paragraph 1.2.3 of this Code, provided the Company demonstrates plans to
implement a safety management system meeting the full requirements of this Code within the
period of validity of the Interim Document of Compliance. Such an Interim Document of
Compliance should be issued for a period not exceeding 12 months by the Administration or by
an organization recognized by the Administration or, at the request of the Administration, by
another Contracting Government. A copy of the Interim Document of Compliance should be
placed on board in order that the master of the ship, if so requested, may produce it for
verification by the Administration or by an organization recognized by the Administration or for
the purposes of the control referred to in regulation IX/6.2 of the Convention. The copy of the
Document is not required to be authenticated or certified.
14.2 An Interim Safety Management Certificate may be issued:
.1 to new ships on delivery;
.2 when a Company takes on responsibility for the operation of a ship which is new to the
Company; or
.3 when a ship changes flag.
Such an Interim Safety Management Certificate should be issued for a period not exceeding 6
months by the Administration or an organization recognized by the Administration or, at the
request of the Administration, by another Contracting Government.
14.3 An Administration or, at the request of the Administration, another Contracting

Government may, in special cases, extend the validity of an Interim Safety Management
Certificate for a further period which should not exceed 6 months from the date of expiry.
14.4 An Interim Safety Management Certificate may be issued following verification that:
.1 the Document of Compliance, or the Interim Document of Compliance, is

relevant to the ship concerned;
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.2 the safety management system provided by the Company for the ship
concerned includes key elements of this Code and has been assessed during the
audit for issuance of the Document of Compliance or demonstrated for issuance
of the Interim Document of Compliance;
.3 the Company has planned the audit of the ship within three months;
.4 the master and officers are familiar with the safety management system
and the planned arrangements for its implementation;
.5 instructions, which have been identified as being essential, are provided

prior to sailing; and
.6 relevant information on the safety management system has been given in a

working language or languages understood by the ship's personnel.
15 VERIFICATION
15.1 All verifications required by the provisions of this Code should be carried out in accordance
with procedures acceptable to the Administration, taking into account the guidelines developed
by the Organization.
Reasons for the ISM Code
Why do you think is it necessary to have a mandatory, international safety and environmental
protection code?
How many reasons can you think of?
Write down some of your answer and lets compare them with ours.
Our answers Reasons for the Code
Reducing human error the cause of many accidents on board
Seafaring is a dangerous occupation and many seafarers get hurt
Establishing procedures for the protection of the environment
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Making sure companies comply with the rules, so that all ships are safer
Reducing insurance premiums by cutting the accident rate
Producing cost savings by avoiding delays caused by accidents
Using it allows good practice to be identified and passed on from ship to ship
Raising the status of safety in the shipping industry
Providing our customers with better service by improving the protection we provide to
their goods and, if they are passengers, themselves
Of course, everyone involved in shipping, from P&I Clubs to the individual seafarer will
welcome any initiative that prevents this from happening.
But its not just the major accidents that Code will help to reduce. It is also very personal
tragedies like this one.
Watch the video clip!
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1a: The Law and the UK Regulations
In this part of the course we will take a look at the UK regulations and requirements for the
Safety Officer aboard UK ships.
Other administration may have different requirements which you will check once you sign in.
What kind of a ship must have a safety officer?
UK ships to which The Health and Safety of Work Regulations apply (i.e. those with more than
5 workers on board) must have a safety officer.
Which are the duties of a safety officer?
1. To improve the standards of safety consciousness among the crew.

2. To ensure that the provision of the Code of Safe Working Practices and safety
instructions, rules and guidance for the ship relating to health and safety are complied
with.
3. To investigate, if it is reasonably practicable:
every accident involving death, major or serious injury as defined in the MS

(Accident Investigation and Reporting) Regulations
all potential hazards to health and safety
all reasonable complaints by workers about health and safety, and make
recommendation to the Master in order to prevent their reoccurrence or to remove
any hazard (provided that the duty to investigate shall not extend to accidents
arising from a casualty to the ship)
4. To ensure that health and safety inspections of each accessible part of the ship are carried
out at least once every 3 months, and more frequently if there have been substantial
changes in the conditions of work.
5. To make representation and, where appropriate, recommendations to the master about

any deficiency on the ship in respect of (i) any legislative requirement relating to health
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and safety, (ii) any relevant M Notice, or (iii) any provision of the Code of Safe Working
Practices, and also to suggest whether those representations and recommendations should
be passed on from the master to the employer or to any other person who has control over
the matter.
6. To keep a record of every accident involving death, or any major or serious injury, and to
make it available on request to elected safety representatives, to the master and to any
person duly authorised by the Secretary of State (e.g. an MAIB inspector or MCA
surveyor).
7. To stop any work which he observes in progress and reasonably believes may cause a
serious accident, and immediately inform the master or the masters deputy, who will
then decide when the work can be resumed safely.
Are there any occasions in which the safety officer does not have to carry out his statutory
duties?
Yes. He or she is not required to take any of the above actions at the time when emergency
action to safeguard life or the ship is being taken.
Can the safety officer order the resumption of any work that he has ordered to be stopped?
No, only the master or the masters deputy can order the resumption of the work. (The SO should
immediately inform the master or his deputy about the time when he or she stopped the work)
If the 2nd Mate was the appointed safety officer on your ship, should he also be concerned
with medical treatment?
No. The SO investigates all accidents, so he or she should avoid direct involvement with any sort
of medical treatment.
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Following the accident on board, what should the safety officer do?
He or she should try to determine how and why the accident occurred and assist the master in
reporting on the accident through the IRF form. The SO should concentrate on establishing facts
of the case and is supposed to:
Record the names (and addresses if shore personnel are involved) of all of those in the
vicinity;
Note and mark the position of the injured and details about clothing, equipment and tools
likely to have been in used;
Take portable items which might be relevant to the investigation in possession.
He or she should make sketches and/or take photographs if possible. His duty to
investigate does not extend to accidents arising from a casualty to the ship.
When is the safety officers appointment terminated?
It is terminated as soon as he or she ceases to be employed on the particular ship, or as soon as

the employer terminates his work as SO.
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2. The ISM Code: Procedures and People
In the previous part, The ISM Code an Outline, it was explained what the code was, the
reasons for its introduction, how does it relate to other safety regulations, what does it cover and
how companies obtain formal certification of compliance.
This part deals in more detail with what the Code refers to as the Functional Requirements for a
Safety Management System. These are the written policies and procedures, the description of
who does what and how they communicate with each other and the arrangements for audits and
reviews. This is the framework for the day to day operation of the Safety Management System
on your ship.
This lecture is divided in three sections, meaning that you do not have to go through it all at
once.
1. Policies and procedures

2. Who does what?
3. Audits and reviews
When you have done that, you will be ready to look in detail at your role as your ships Safety
Officer by working through another part and the project associated with it.
Here is the list of Functional Requirements as it appears in the Code. For the purposes of this
chapter and the course in general we will re-arrange it, like this:
Functional Requirements
Policy
Instructions and procedures
Emergency procedures
Levels of authority: lines of communication
Reporting procedures
Internal audits and management reviews
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First of all, there must be a solid, written foundation for your ships Safety Management System.
Based firmly on the companys safety policy, it will consist of instructions and procedures for all
major areas of the ships operations, routine and emergency. Let us call this The Shipboard
Manual.
Also, it must be absolutely clear who is responsible for what and how will those involved
communicate with one another. There should exist defined reporting procedures as well.
Finally, the system must be audited and regularly reviewed.
Shipboard Manual
Policy
Instructions and procedures
Who Does What?
Levels of authority: lines of communication

Audits and Reviews
Internal audit and management reviews
Here is a suggested set of subject categories from the ISF/ICS Guidelines on the application of
the ISM Code.
General covers subjects which are constant feature of ships operations, such as medical
arrangements, shipboard organizations and the maintenance of documents and records.
To ensure consistency across the fleet, your company will have decided on a logical structure for
the contents of your shipboard manual which will probably differ from this. But many of the
subjects will be the same, so we will use this ISF/ICS structure to help you examine the contents
of the Shipboard Manual in more detail.
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2.1. The Shipboard Manual Subjects ISF/ICS Suggestions
General
Ship in port
Preparing for sea
Ship at sea
Preparing for arrival in port
Here is a typical list of the subjects covering the ship in port. For each of these there will be a
detailed description of plans, procedures and instructions.
Of course some of these may not apply to your ship and there may be others which you would
want to add. Let us look at your ships operations for the following categories.
The Ship in Port
Accepting cargo and passengers

Loading and discharging procedures, including those related to dangerous goods
Harbour watches and patrols
Liaison with shore authorities
Monitoring trim and stability
Procedures when the ship is temporarily immobilized
Accidental spillage of liquid cargos and ships bunkers
Use of reception facilities for oil, noxious liquids and garbage
Response to pollution incidents
Preparing for sea
Please list the subject areas which your Shipboard Manual should cover for this part of the ships
operation. We will compare your answers with the list from the ISF/ICS Guidelines.
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Let us now turn our attention to the people responsible for making the ISM Code work in
practice.
The Safety Management System must identify who does what, both ashore and on each ship in
the fleet. Levels of authority must be defined, lines of communication cleared and reporting
procedures established.
2.2. Who Does What?
Levels of authority
Lines of communication
The ISM Code requires companies to define responsibilities for safety and environmental
protection in detail. There are six individuals and groups who have particular roles to play.
The highest level of management; the shore based Designated Person; the Master of each ship
in the companys fleet; Safety Officer such as yourselves; Safety Committees and
representatives; and the crew of each ship.
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The company must appoint a Designated Person Ashore, or DPA, with overall responsibility
for the safety management system. They are responsible for monitoring compliance with the
system, they are the link between the ship and shore; they explain to the shore staff and ships
senior officer how does the system work; they audit the system, listen to feedback on the system
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given by the ships and sort out problems. In most shipping companies they will have a
designated team who will, for example, visit ships to review how does the system work.
The Code makes it clear that the Designated Person Ashore must be independent and able to rise
concerns about safety at the highest level in the company.
Companies must ensure that the Master is qualified for command on each of their ships, that he
or she understands the companys safety management system and is given the appropriate
support.
There is something else about the Master that the Code makes very clear.
The Master:
Qualified
Understands the companys SMS
Supported
Rules are for the guidance of wise men and the blind obedience of fools.
Albert Einstein
The ISM Code makes it clear that the Master has the overriding authority and the responsibility
to make decisions with respect to safety and pollution prevention, and to request the companys
assistance as may be necessary. It is not the purpose of the Shipboard manual to prevent Masters
using their professional judgement in whatever circumstances they might face.
Though the Code itself does not require the appointment of Safety Officer, many
Administrations are making this a requirement and, even if they do not, it makes sense for the
Master to delegate much of the detailed safety management on board to a particular officer such
as yourselves.
We will cover your responsibilities in the section titled Your Role as the Safety Officer.
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Safety officer
The Code does not require companies to have Safety Committees on their ships, though it does
say that the Master has the responsibility to motivate the crew so that they are able to observe the
safety policy.
However the Code does state that the Safety Management System must comply with mandatory
rules and regulations and for very many flag states a safety committee is the statutory
requirement under their own maritime legislation.
You will find that a Safety Committee which includes ratings as well as officers will give the
crew a sense of ownership over safety issues and make the system work better by providing
feedback from those most affected.
Safety committee Flag state requirements
In all ships to which the regulations apply, it is desirable for the master to establish a safety
committee. However, a statutory requirement for a safety committee only exists on those ships
where safety representatives are elected.
The composition of a safety committee is laid down in the Regulations but this does not preclude
the appointment of others as committee members nor the appointment of temporary members
from time to time. Whenever possible, a company's shore manager with responsibility for safety
should attend safety committee meetings on board ship and should in any event require seeing
the committee's minutes. On short-haul ferries on which different crews work a shift system a
scheme of alternate committee members may be adopted to secure proper representation.
Where large numbers of personnel work in separate departments (e.g. passenger ship galleys and
restaurants), departmental sub-committees should be formed on lines similar to those of the main
committee and under the chairmanship of a senior member of the department who should serve
as a member of the main safety committee in order to report the views of the subcommittee.
The ship's safety committee should include the master, the Safety Officer and every safety
representative elected in accordance with the rules.
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The master must record the appointment of a safety committee in the official logbook. He should
occupy the position of committee chairman since he has overall responsibility on board for safety
and has the necessary authority.
It is preferable to appoint as Secretary a person who is not a safety official, as officials need to
concentrate on the discussion rather than on recording it.
Other committee members should include the Safety Officer, every safety representative and
other persons necessary for the proper conduct of the business (e.g. Chief Officer, Chief
Engineer or Catering Officer). Care should be taken to keep the committee sufficiently compact
to maintain interest and to enable it to function efficiently.
The frequency of meetings will be determined by circumstances but a frequency of about every
4-6 weeks should suffice. An interval between meetings of much longer than 6 weeks may
suggest inertia and an ineffective safety committee.
An agenda (together with any associated documents and papers, and the minutes of the previous
meeting) should be circulated to all committee members in sufficient time to enable them to
digest the contents and to undertake any necessary preparatory work before the meeting.
If there is a particularly long agenda, consideration should be given to holding two meetings in
fairly quick succession rather than one long marathon. If two meetings are held, priority at the
first meeting should, of course, be given to the more important or urgent matters.
The first item on the agenda should always be the minutes of the previous meeting. This allows
any corrections to the minutes to be recorded and gives the opportunity to report any follow-up
action taken.
The last item but one should be any other business. This enables last minute items to be
introduced, and prevents the written agenda being a stop on discussion.
Minutes of each meeting should record concisely the business discussed and conclusions
reached. A copy should be provided to each committee member. Normally, they should be
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agreed as a true record at the next meaning, or amended if necessary, under the first item of the
agenda.
A minutes file or book should be maintained, together with a summary of recommendations

recording conclusions reached, in order to provide a permanent source of reference and so
ensuring continuity should there be changes in the personnel serving on the committee.
The ship's complement should be kept informed on matters of interest which have been
discussed by summaries or extracts from the minutes posted on the ship's notice board.
Suggestions may be stimulated by similarly posting the agenda in advance of meetings.
Relevant extracts of agreed minutes should be forwarded through the master to the Company
even though certain matters there-in may have been already taken up with them.
The Crew
Last, but by no means least, there is the crew itself. It is very important that no one should get the
idea that they do not have to worry about safety because that is the job of someone else you as
the Safety Officer or their representative on the Safety Committee or some manager ashore.
The Code makes it clear that all ships personnel must be appropriately informed, trained, and
involved in the Safety Management system in a language which they understand.
An essential purpose of the ships Safety Management system in which all the crew can play
their part, is to identify equipment and technical system which, should they fail, would result in a
hazardous situation.
As well as defining levels of authority and the responsibilities of individuals and groups, the
Safety Management System must also define how communication will work between and
amongst shore and shipboard personnel and procedures for reporting, for example, incidents
affecting safety and environmental protection.
Levels of authority
Lines of communication
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Shore and shipboard personnel work closely together in order to produce the appropriate policies
and procedures and define who does what.
Once they have done so and the system is up and running, it must be audited and periodically
reviewed.
2.3. Audits and Reviews
Audits are conducted by internal, independent auditors.
Audits are not just about examining paperwork, though that is important. Auditors will talk to
members of the crew at all levels to make sure they understand their own responsibilities for
safety and environmental protection under the Safety Management System, and what to do in
particular situations, for example, a fire in the galley.
Once the independent auditor or member of the designated team has left the ship. It will be an
important part of your job as the Safety Officer to make sure the system continues to operate
effectively. This will involve making safety inspections and looking out for safety problems.
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3. You as the Safety Officer
What Are The Duties Of Ship Safety Officer (SSO)?
Under the International Safety Management (ISM) code, every ship must appoint a ship safety
officer (SSO) who has the knowledge, experience, and skills to look over the important safety
issues related to ship and its crews health.
According to the ISM code a ship safety officer should have a minimum of two years of
consecutive sea service. In case of tanker ships the safety officer should have six months of
experience on tanker ships in addition to two years of consecutive sea service.
The appointed ship service officer should have the necessary qualities to properly take the
responsibilities imposed under the relevant provision of the ISM regulation. He should also help
in proper implementation of the ISM code on the ship.
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Duties of ship safety officer
The safety officer of the ship is entitled to look over all the duties related to safety of the ship.
Some of the important duties include:
Look into all the potential hazards to the health and safety of the ship and its crew
Ensure that the crew maintains high standard of safety consciousness and knows all the
important aspects of the ISM code related to safety
Ensures that the provisions of the code of safe working practices and safety instructions,
rules and guidance for the ships safety and health are complied with
Ensure that safety inspection of the ship is carried out at least every three months or more
frequently if required
Help ship safety committee to take substantial steps for enhancing the safety of the ship
To look into crew complaints related to health and safety
Make recommendations to the ships master to remove a potential hazard which might
lead to an accident or harm to the crew
Help in making an efficient safety management system (SMS)
Provide information to the ships master regarding deficiencies related to ships health,
safety, and security
Properly investigate any accident involving death of a crew and major or minor accident
Inform the master when someone from the crew fails to work according to the regulations
mention in the ISM code
Recommend important aspects related to safety in ships maintenance plan
Maintain a record of all the accidents taking place on the ship, including death, major or
minor injury, and near death experiences. Also, make this information available to the
ships master, safety representative, or any official of the company
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Stop any ship operation, which might cause damage to the ship or harm to any of the
ships crew. Inform about the same to the ships master and take necessary steps
Ship safety officer is not required to perform any of the above mentioned duties when an
emergency action or response is being taken to safe guard life or safety of a ship. Moreover, he is
also not the in charge of any kind of medical treatment or first aid in case of an emergency.
3.1. What Is Safety Management System (SMS) On Ships?
The safety management system (SMS) is an organized system planned and implemented by the
shipping companies to ensure safety of the ship and marine environment.
SMS is an important aspect of the International safety management (ISM) code and it details all
the important policies, practices, and procedures that are to be followed in order to ensure safe
functioning of ships at the sea. All commercial vessels are required to establish safe ship
management procedures. SMS forms one of the important parts of the ISM code.
The safety management system (SMS) therefore ensures that each and every ship comply with
the mandatory safety rules and regulations, and follow the codes, guidelines, and standards
recommended by the IMO, classification societies, and concerned maritime organizations.
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What is included in the safety management system (SMS)?
Every safety management policy should satisfy some of the basic functional requirements to
ensure safety of every ship. They are:
Procedure and guidelines to act in an emergency situation
Safety and environmental protection policy
Procedure and guidelines for reporting accidents or any other form of non-conformities
Clear information on level of authority and lines of communication among ship crew
members, and between shore and shipboard personnel
Procedures and guidelines to ensure safe operations of ships and protection of marine
environment in compliance with relevant international and flag state legislations
Procedures for internal audits and management reviews
Vessel details
In short, a safety management system would consists of details as to how a vessel would operate
on a day to day basis, what are the procedures to be followed in case of an emergency, how are
drills and trainings conducted, measures taken for safe operations, who is the designated person
etc.
Safety management plan is mainly the responsibility of the owner of the vessel, or the designated
person, or the person appointed by the owner. However, the ships master and the crew are the
best people to make an SMS as they know the vessel inside-out.
Sections
An SMS is divided into sections for easy reference. They are:
General
Safety and environmental policy
Designated person (DP)
Resources and personnel
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Masters responsibilities and authority
Companys responsibility and authority
Operational procedures
Reporting of accidents
Maintenance and records
Documentation
Review and evaluation
These are the main parts of a basic SMS; however, the plan might vary according to the type of
the vessel and the cargo carried by the same. SMS play an important role in the process of ISM
code implementation on ships.
How the Maintenance Plan of Ship is Made?
The main aim of any maintenance plan on ship is to get the maintenance and repair work done in
the least possible time with minimum costs.
A maintenance plan is therefore followed by every shipping company to ensure that the ships
machinery maintains a particular standard of operation and safety.
Maintenance plan is an imperative element of ships routine operations and also forms an
integral component of ships maintenance mechanism.
While making a maintenance plan, several aspects are taken into consideration, starting from the
International safety management code (ISM) to the guidelines put forth by the machine
manufacturers.
What should be the main objectives of a maintenance plan?
As mentioned before, the main objective of a maintenance plan is to make sure that the work is
done in the least possible time with utmost efficiency and at optimum cost.
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Various points mentioned in the ISM code are taken into consideration, along with companys
procedures and manufacturers guidelines.
Other aspects include type of the ship, condition of the ship, age of the ship etc.
How is the maintenance plan made and implemented?
In order to carry out a successful maintenance plan, the following steps are considered in order to
form a strategic approach:
1. Identifying the problem
2. Establishing the clause
3. Proposing solution
4. Evaluating solution
5. Implementing solution
6. Evaluating effectiveness
7. Solving
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While developing a maintenance procedure for a particular ship, the shipping company takes the
following points into consideration:
Maintenance guidelines and specifications given by the manufacturer

History of equipment including failures, defects, damagers, and remedial action
Guidelines mentioned in the ISM code
Age of the ship
Third party inspections
Consequences of failure of equipment on safe operation of the ship
Critical equipment and systems
Intervals of maintenance
Considering the above mentioned points, a systematic approach to maintenance is made. This is
necessary to ensure that nothing is missed while carrying out the maintenance procedure.
Following steps are included in the approach for maintenance procedure:
Establishment of maintenance intervals

Methods and frequency of inspections
Specification of the type of inspection
Type of measuring equipment to be used
Establishment of appropriate acceptance criteria
Assignment of responsibility for inspection activities to appropriately qualified personnel
Clear definition of reporting requirements and mechanisms
Maintenance interval forms the most important aspect of the maintenance plan.
The maintenance interval decided in the plan is based on the following factors:
Manufactures recommendations and specifications

Predictive maintenance determination techniques
Practical experience of the engineers in operation and maintenance of ship and its
machinery
Historical trends obtained from the results of routine inspections, and in nature and rate
of failures.
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The use of the equipment continuous, intermittent, standby, or emergency
Practical and operational restrictions
Guidelines for internals specified as part of class, convention, administration and
company requirements
Need for regular testing of S/B arrangement
Lastly, following steps are included for writing down the final procedure for planned inspection
routines:
Criteria for inspection
Use of appropriate measuring and testing equipment
Calibration of measuring and testing equipment
The type of inspection and test to be employed visual, vibration, pressure, temperature,
electrical, load, water tightness
Considering the above mentioned points, a systematic and planned maintenance procedure is
made which also forms an integral part of ships planned maintenance system.
For inspection purpose checklist are often used to ensure that the inspection, test and
maintenance are performed according to the guidelines of manufacturers, shipping company, and
the ISM code.
3.2. Your Role as the Safety Officer
Agreeing purpose and scope
Activities the job involves
Deciding where to start
Project file
Purpose
The purpose of the Safety Officers job is to support and promote a positive safety culture aboard
ship.
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Scope:
Once you and the Master have agreed the purpose of your role as the Safety Officer, what else do
you need to agree?
Write some of your ideas down on page and then we will compare with our answers.
Scope to agree
Your list will probably be more detailed and therefore better than ours because it is focused
on your ship.
Here are some issues to think about coming from our list:
What about the limits of your authority? For example, can you order people to stop
working if you think they are doing something unsafe?
What happens with your current job? Is the Safety Officers role in addition to your
current responsibilities or does the Master intend to make space for this role by
modifying how work is shared amongst his officers?
Relationships with other officers, for example in the organization of drills and
responsibility for safety equipment.
How often and in which way will you and the Master communicate about safety? Will
you have any direct contact with the Designated Person ashore?
Who else has to agree with the different activities which the job involves. Lets look at
these in more detail.
Activities
Your Flag State

People
Administration
Workplace
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People
What different activities can you, as the Safety Officer, organize and carry out with the officer
and ratings on your ship in order to maintain and improve safety?
Write some of your ideas on the next page and then we will compare with our answers.
Familiarisation
Training
Drills
Safety Committee
Administration
Procedures
Records
Reporting
Workplace
Working areas
Accommodation
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Risk assessment
Safety Inspection
Safety management review
Accidents
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4. Safety Committee
4.1. What Is a Safety Committee on Ships?
In order to ensure that the ship and its crew follows all safety procedures while doing work and
maintains a safe working environment, a safety committee is formed on ships under the
chairmanship of the master.
The safety committee comprises of the safety officer and the safety representative along with
other competent persons. More crew members can be included in the committee if the need arise.
The safety committee works with the sole goal of enhancing the safety standard on board ships
by ensuring that all safety procedures and practices are followed by the ships crew members.
The safety committee works with the sole goal of enhancing the safety standard on board ships
by ensuring that all safety procedures and practices are followed by the ships crew members.
Main tasks of the safety committee are:
To ensure that safe working practices and standards are followed on the ship and are not
compromised at any cost
To improve the standards of safety by enhancing safety-first attitude among crew

members
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To make recommendations regarding enhancement of occupational health and safety
measures on ships
To act as the representative of the crew to address concerns and queries to the ship
management
Inspect safety officers records
To take appropriate actions pertaining to occupational health and safety policies
To keep a record of safety meetings, suggestions, progress, and actions taken
To ensure that necessary safety tools and equipment are available to the crew members,
along with safety publications
To look into the accuracy of accident reports
To make sure that safety meetings are held every 4 to 6 weeks or whenever need arise
All the records of the committee are properly noted down in official log book
Safety committee is an important body on board ships. It has the same powers under the
regulations as those possessed by safety representatives.
The Safety Committee
Set up
Organization
Meetings
Project your safety committee
This part is about your ships safety committee. You will learn how to set up a committee by
defining its purpose and identifying who the members of the committee might be, how to
organize the work so that it functions smoothly and how to run the meetings.
Before we get into the detail, let us be clear about the legal position. The ISM Code itself does
not require companies to have either Safety Committees or Safety representatives on board of
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their ships, but it does require them to follow the specific regulations of their own Flag State
Administration.
Many administrations do require these committees and representatives so you must be clear
about your own administrations position.
Even if you are under no legal obligation to have them, safety committees and representatives
can play such an important part in improving safety that you may want to have them in place on
board your ship.
The United Kingdom is one administration that does require committees and representatives and
at some places in the Part we will use guidance provided by their Maritime and Coastguard
Agency-MCA to give you ideas for how a committee and representatives might operate on
your ship.
The legal position
The ISM Code

Flag State Administrations
Set up
What is the committee for?

Who takes part?
There are two fundamental questions you are supposed to answer when setting up a Safety
Committee on board. Firstly, what is it for, and secondly, who should take part?
Of course, as the safety Officer you cannot make these decisions on your own. You must discuss
and reach an agreement with the Master and your fellow officer. Your company, though the
designated person ashore, will also have a view on that and so might your administration.
But let us start with what you think are the purposes of a Safety Committee. What do you think
should be the purposes of the safety committee on your ship? Write down your answer and
compare it with ours.
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Purposes
Forum for discussion

Share information
Share ideas
Represent and involve the crew
Take action on safety
Inform and consult with the Company
This may suit his ship, but will it suit yours? How you should decide who should be on the
Safety Committee?
4.2. Who should take part?
Master
Safety officer
Mix of operations
Mix of ranks
Mix of nationalities
Most Safety Committees are chaired by the Master and, as safety Officer, you will obviously be
an important member of the Committee.
When deciding who the other members should be, it is important to achieve the right mix of
the different operational areas on your ship, for example deck, engine room, galley, if you carry
passengers, hotel staff; of ranks; and of different nationalities among the crew.
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Safety representatives
There are two important questions:
How to find them?

How many of them?
If the members of your committee will be Safety Representatives this raises two important
questions: how to identify them and how many of them are needed.
Here is the statutory guidance from the United Kingdom and Coastguard Agency.
How to find them? Elect them!
How many are needed?
6 15 crew: 1 elected by officers and ratings

16+ crew: 1 elected by the officers +
1 elected by the ratings
30+ ratings: 1 elected by the officers +
3 elected by the ratings
First of all, the MCA requires representatives to be elected, not appointed by the Master or the
company. This can give the crew a strong feeling of owning the issue of safety and having some
control over how it is managed.
As you can see from the MCA recommendations, the number of representatives depends on the
size of the crew. When the are more than 30 ratings the three elected by the ratings should each
come from a different operational area of the ship deck, engine room and catering.
Not too many members
Large crews:
Sub-committees at department level

Representatives to ships Safety Committee
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Of course the meetings of the committee will not be effective if there are to many members do
not go beyond eight to ten.
This is a problem for ships with large crews, such as cruise ships and short-haul ferries. They
need a sub-committee. Each of these will appoint or elect representatives to the ships main
Safety Committee.
Short-haul ferries
Alternate committee members

Shifts represented
On short-haul ferries with several different crews working shifts you will need a system of
alternate committee members with meetings organized so that different shifts are fairly
represented.
Master
Safety officer
Mix of operations
Mix of ranks
Mix of nationalities
Contractors etc.
As well as the permanent members of the crew, it is often helpful to ask a representative of those
who may be temporarily on board, such as shore based contractors or shore based managers, to
attend meetings.
Before we take a look at how to organize a safety committee, answer these questions about the
issues involved in setting one up on your ship.
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4.3. Organization
Frequency
Agendas
Minutes
To summarise, the two key questions to be answered when setting up a Safety Committee are
what is it for and who should take part.
Let us now consider what needs to be organized once the safety Committee is up and running.
We will consider frequency how often the Committee should meet, agendas what should they
include and how are they to be generated, and minutes who is supposed to record them and
what should be done with them once they are written.
Frequency
Regular meetings:
Voyage: length, nature

After sailing
Before docking
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Special meetings:
Before audits
After accidents/incidents
How often should a safety Committee meet? Well, it is hard to give a straightforward answer to
that question. It depends on the voyage, how will it last and what will it include. You may find,
though, that your administration gives guidelines. The MCA, for example, says that the
committee should meet every 4 to 6 weeks.
In case of long voyages it is helpful to meet soon after sailing in order to discuss planned safety
activities. It is also sensible to meet before docking, to review the voyage from a safety point of
view and make sure that the ships safety practices will pass muster at any Port State inspection.
You will also occasionally want to hold special meetings of the Committee, for example before
ISM audits in the aftermath of any significant accidents or incidents.
Agendas
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Next comes the agenda: what is it supposed to cover, where to get the issues it contains, how to
structure it, who you should proceed it to and when?
What would you expect the agenda of a safety Committee to cover? Write down some of your
ideas and then compare it with ours.
Minutes of the previous meeting. Have the actions agreed been taken and, if not, why
not?
Report on safety Inspection since the previous meeting
Report on any significant accidents/incidents
Communications on safety issues from the Company
Planned safety activities and initiatives (e.g. training)
Issues with safety implications (e.g. significant maintenance)
Report on Safety Inspection of the galley
Discussion of ideas for reducing minor cuts and burns.
Agreement of action plan.
The second version tells everyone on the Committee that they will be expected to contribute
ideas and not just sit and listen to a report.
It is one thing to know what the meetings ought to cover, but where do you get the actual items
to put on each meetings agenda? Well, as the Safety Officer quite a lot of them will come from
you and there will also be items raised by the Company. However, try to encourage members of
the Committee to suggest issues for discussion. The more you can involve them the better the
Committee will work.
Settle a deadline for submission of items for the agenda, say half way between the previous
meeting and the next. You can always pick up anything under the other section at the end of
the meeting.
The way you structure the agenda will affect how well does the meeting go. Put the most
important item in the middle so that there is plenty of time to discuss it. Work out rough timings
for each item.
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Define a timescale for circulating the agenda so that everyone has time to prepare. Post the
agenda on the Safety Notice Board and send a copy to the Designated Person ashore.
Minutes
Who takes them?
As well as organizing the frequency of meetings and the belonging agendas, you must also make
sure that minutes which provide a proper record are written.
Who takes the minutes? The Master definitely should not do so. It is not possible to chair a
meeting effectively and take minutes at the same time.
If you can, it is also better to avoid taking minutes yourself. As the Committees safety expert
you will have enough to do during the meetings without also having to take notes.
A simple precaution against safety Committee becoming mere talking shops is for the minutes to
be recorded by whoever has agreed to take action and by what time.
Get the minutes written and circulated to the Committee members soon after the meeting as
possible. What else should you do with them?
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Put them on the Notice Board.
Send or better give them to Heads of Department and highlight issues relevant to
them.
Send a copy to the designated Person ashore
And, very important, talk to people about them.
Let us summarize. Firstly, when you set up a safety Committee you have to discuss and agree
what it is for and who should take part. Next you have to organize its work: the frequency of the
meetings, the agenda, and the minutes. Then, of course, you have to run the meetings. We will
now take a look at some important principles of running meetings.
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4.4. How to run a meeting
Arrangements
Beginning, middle, end
First of all, your meetings will go more smoothly if you get the arrangements right. Make sure
everyone is comfortable and can see each other eye contact makes discussion much easier.
Have extra copies of the agenda available for those who forget to bring their own. Make sure you
will not be interrupted.
Next, every meeting should have a beginning, middle and an end preferably in that order!
1. The beginning of the meeting:

Agenda
Minutes of the previous meeting
Matters arising
Actions taken
Any other business
So the person in the chair begins by reminding everyone where the meeting is going and
reviewing the minutes of the last meeting, including checking that everyone has done what they
agreed to do. It is also a good idea to check at the beginning of the meeting whether there are any
items which need to be raised under Any other business section at the end.
2. The middle of the meeting:
Use the agenda

Ask questions ideas + information
Test understanding
Control the noisy
Encourage the quiet
Keep the discussion on course
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In the middle of the discussion the person in the chair uses the agenda to provide structure; he
asks questions in order to hear about ideas as well as information; he tests understanding; he
controls the noisy and encourages the quiet; and he keeps the discussion on course if it starts to
ramble.
Something very important is missing from that list. It is what he must do at the end of each item
as well as at the end of the meeting.
3. End of the meeting:
Summarize
A good summary at the end of each item on the agenda and, most important, at the end of the
meeting makes it absolutely clear what has been discussed and decided and what action will be
taken as a result.
In this part of the course about your ships Safety Committee you have learned how to set
committee by defining its purpose and indentifying who its members might be, how to organize
its work so that it functions smoothly and how to run its meetings.
At this point you will take a test covering this Part.
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Think Safe, Be Safe
5. Shipboard Familiarization under STCW
This part deals with Shipboard Familiarisation, that is the information and training which new
members of the crew must receive before being assigned with shipboard duties.
Here we will check your understanding of the mandatory requirements of STCW the Seafarers
Training, Certification and Watchkeeping Code. You will learn the principles of planning in
order to provide familiarisation training and the methods of delivering such training. Finally we
will outline your role in ensuring that those whose duties include safety and pollution prevention
on board have had the required additional training.
Shipboard familiarization:
STCW requirements
Planning
Training methods
Additional basic training requirements.
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First of all, who is covered by the STCW provisions for familiarisation training?
The answer is simple: everyone employed or engaged on seagoing ship other than passengers.
That means officers, ratings, hotel staff on passengers ships, shore based managers, contractors,
even film crews if they happen to be making a video on your ship!
Before we look at how to provide familiarisation training, let us check if you know what it
covers. Previous to being assigned to shipboard duties, all persons employed or engaged on a
seagoing ship other than passengers should be able to what? Write down as many provisions
as you can and we will compare it with the STCW Code.
STCW Code requirements:
Communicate with other persons on board about elementary safety matters and
understand safety information symbols, signs and alarm signals
Know what to do if:
- A person falls overboard
- Fire or smoke is detected
- The fire or ship alarm is sounded
Identify muster and embarkation stations and emergency escape routes
Locate and done lifejackets
Raise the alarm and have basic knowledge of the use of portable fire extinguishers
Take immediate action upon encountering an accident or medical emergency before

seeking further medical assistance on board. Close and open the fire, watertight and
watertight doors fitted in the particular ship other than those for hull openings
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5.1. Planning
Objectives
Sequence
Methods
Follow up
Help
Records
Shipboard familiarisation, like any other form of training, must be carefully planned if it is to be
effective. So what do you need to consider?
Here is summary. We will deal with these issues in more detail later.
First, you must be clear about your objectives what you are trying to achieve since these
determine both what you will cover and how you will do it.
Second comes sequence. There are a number of various items to cover, from helping new crew
members find their way around the ship, to make sure they can operate portable fire
extinguishers. So you must decide what to do first.
Third are methods. For example, you can run short training sessions, you can take new crew
members on tours of the ship.
Fourth follow-up. The STCW Code says that those who have newly arrived on a ship must be
able to do all of these things before being assigned to shipboard duties. That is very sensible, as
well as being mandatory, but you have to watch out for one of the weaknesses of many
introduction training programmes, namely giving people too much information in too short a
time and then following it up.
Fifth, help! Seriously, if you have many new crew members arriving at the same time you will
need to ask your fellow officer to help you familiarise them. And, of course, if for example you
are a deck officer, your colleagues in the engine room should carry out some of the
familiarisation for newly arrived engine room personnel.
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Finally, records. You will need a simple system for recording which of the items of mandatory
information and training each new crew member has received.
But, there is something else. There is one absolutely essential piece of information you must
have about each new person joining the ship. If possible, get from them the andswer to a simple
question the first time you speak to them.
What is the question? Can you guess?
The golden rule of training is to pitch your message at the right level for the individual
concerned. So, find out about their previous experience. When they come aboard your ship you
may find yourself familiarising twenty years veterans or ratings on their first voyage or even, on
passengers ship, entertainers who do not know the difference between port and starboard.
Once you have the answer to the question about experience, the next step is to tell the newly
joined crew members what they will learn from familiarisation and how you will carry out the
training which takes us back to planning, beginning with objectives.
Objectives
Before take-off on commercial aircraft the cabin crew do a safety briefing. There is a very
important difference between the objectives they are trying to achieve with the passengers on the
aircraft and what you must achieve with new people joining your ship.
What is the difference? What you think?
All that the cabin crew on an aircraft do is to show and tell passengers about using the oxygen
masks, putting on lifejackets and so on. It is an information giving exercise and frankly, few
passengers pay much attention.
Under STCW, that is not enough. As a result of your training, those joining the ship must be able
to carry out the provisions of the Code. That means that whatever training methods you use must
include having them demonstrate their knowledge and ability.
Once you are clear about objectives, you can plan the sequence, methods and so on. Of course,
your particular plan will depend on circumstances on your ship the size of the crew, the type of
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the ship, the amount of time you have available before sailing and so on. But there are some
general principles, starting with sequence.
Sequence
Layout
Emergency information
- Signs
- Signals
Emergency equipment
- Lifejackets
- Fire
- Weathertight and weathertight doors
Specific emergencies
- Fire
- Person overboard
- Medical emergencies
Here is our suggestion for a logical order in which to tackle the provisions of the STCW Code.
The obvious starting point is the layout of the ship. New crew members must be able to find their
way to their Muster Stations from their cabins, their normal workplaces and the crew
accommodation.
Next, they must be able to recognise emergency information the signs displayed about the ship
and the signals they will hear if there is an emergency.
Then comes emergency equipment. They must know where to find their lifejackets and how to
put them on. They must know how to operate doors which have to be closed in emergencies.
Also, they should know what are their duties in case of specific emergencies, signals and Muster
Stations.
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Methods
Tours
Short training sessions
Helpful written summaries
The three main methods for familiarising newly joined personnel are to take them on tours of the
ship, run short training sessions and provide them with checklists and other helpful written
summaries of what they need to know. Here are typical tours in progress.
New personnel are shown the key safety features. They are taken to their Muster Stations and the
Safety Officer carefully explains how each individual will bord his lifeboat. They are shown how
various emergency doors work. The different emergency signs and symbols are an important part
of the tour. It is essential that new members of the crew understand what they mean and, of
course, that they know where to find their Muster List and understand what it requires them to
do.
You can show and demonstrate most things on the tour, but do not forget those which, like the
general alarm signal, you will only be able to describe.
Okay, you have told them, but do they understand? Can they do it? That is something you will
have to check.
Think about information that you will give new personnel on a familiarisation tour. You can ask
them if they understand, but how will you check that they really do?
List some of your ideas and we will compare them with ours.
Here they are:
Do you have language problems? Get some help.

Use open questions
Watch their body language
Layout ask them to take you

Signs and symbols what do they think?
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Doors they close them
Information what does it mean
What if questions
Make the members of your crew talk and think!
Use short, active training session to familiarise new personnel with how to put on lifejackets.
Once you have shown them, check if they have understood by asking them to show you. There
are a number of different types of lifejackets and it is important that everyone on board knows
how to pull all of them on and not simply the ones they are issued with.
You may not be able to give everyone practice in using portable fire extinguishers, but show
them the various types and test their understanding by asking questions what do you use this
type for? which type must you not use on electrical fires?
You clearly cannot simulate the specific emergencies on the STCW list man overboard, what
to do if they discover a fire and if they encounter an accident. So talk them through the
procedures and, once again, ask questions to make them think.
The ship has to sail in order to earn its living, which is why the lack of time is an inevitable
problem when it comes to familiarisation training. We will come to the follow-up in a moment,
but an obvious way to get it started is to give new personnel a safety checklist and cards which
summarise their muster duties and encourage them to study them and check out the information
they contain.
Let us summarize. You start by being clear about your objectives. You decide on the sequence in
which you will deal with the various items in the STCW Code and the methods you will use to
do so, including how to check that the new personnel are able to do what you are showing them.
You begin the process of follow-up by giving them helpful written summaries and encouraging
them to reinforce what they have learned on their own. How else should you help them do this?
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Questions, questions
Encourage them to ask

Invite questions
Check for understanding
Your fellow officers
The answer is to keep using questions. Encourage the new personnel to ask about things they do
not understand or cannot remember. When you see them around the ship, invite questions from
them to check their understanding by asking, for example, What does the general alarm sound
like? Keep this up until you are sure that they are able to do the things specified in the Code.
Encourage the fellow officers to do the same.
When you do this, not only does it reinforce their knowledge and abilities, it also gives a very
clear message that, on your ship, safety really matters.
Records
Do not forget the other two issues on our original planning list. Depending on the numbers of
new personnel and the time available for familiarisation training, you may need help from your
fellow officer to carry it out. And you will certainly need a simple record of who has received
what training.
There is one more item to plan.
Basic training
Personal survival techniques

Fire prevention/fighting
Elementary first aid
Personal safety/social responsibilities
The STCW Code says that those seafarers with designated safety or pollution prevention duties
must, before being assigned to any shipboard duties, have appropriate training in personal
survival techniques, fire prevention and fire fighting, elementary first aid and personal safety and
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social responsibility. Do not forget that, under ISM Code, those with specific duties must receive
training before sailing.
The levels of competence they must achieve are described in detail in the Code.
It is most unlikely that, as Safety officer, you will be expected to provide this training. However,
the Master will probably delegate to you the task of ensuring that those new crew members with
these duties have up to date certificates which show that they have received appropriate training.
This part dealt with Shipboard Familiarisation the information and training which new
members of the crew must receive before being assigned to shipboard duties.
We have checked your understanding of the mandatory requirements of STCW the Sefarers
Training, Certification and Watchkeeping Code. You have learned the principles of planning to
provide familiarisation training and the methods for delivering that training. Finally we have
outlined your role in ensuring that those whose duties include safety and pollution prevention on
board have had the required training.
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6. Safety Training
Safety training:
Principles
Preparation
- Objectives
- Different training activities
- The setting
The training itself
- Beginning
- During
- Ending
Follow-up
After that we will cover the training session itself how to begin, what to do during the session
and how to end it. Finally you will learn how to follow up a training session.
So what is safety training all about? Here are three pieces of information about safety.
In1999 the Council for Labour Supervision on Norwegian ships reported that, over the period
1990-1997 on NIS and NOR registered ships, 297 people were killed and 9.771 were injured.
Under the provisions of International Maritime Organizations International Safety Management

(ISM) Code, the Company should establish procedures to ensure that new personnel and
personnel transferred to new assignments related to safety and the protection of the environment
are given proper familiarisation with their duties.
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All of these three pieces of information are important, but which do you think would be of most
interest to the seafarers on board your ship the Norwegian statistics, the ISM regulation or the
fatal accident?
Statistics are important, but we think that individual seafarer is much more likely to be interested
in the fatal accident because he could imagine it happening to him.
6.1. Principles
Relevant
Active
Few and frequent
So the first and most important principle of safety training in fact, of any training, is that it
should be relevant. People will not learn unless they can see the benefits of what they are being
taught.
The second principle is make it active. Seafarers are practical people and they learn much more
effectively from doing than from simply being told.
Finally, aim for few and frequent. Your goal is to create a positive safety culture on board and
short, frequent, active training sessions are an excellent way of doing this.
So where do you start?
Well you do not start here, no matter how familiar you are with the subject you will be training.
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Remember: Fail to prepare. Prepare to fail. Preparation is essential for successful training.
Of course the next question will be what do you prepare first?, and the answer is: define what
you want to achieve your objectives.
There are two ways of defining objectives and one is much better than the other. The first
focuses on what you will do in the training session. Here is an example:
My objective is to tech this group of rating the correct type of extinguisher to use on different
types of fire.
The second focuses on what those you are training will be able to do once they have been
trained. For example:
As a result of this training session each one of this group of ratings will be able to select the
correct type of extinguisher to use on different types of fire.
The second approach is much better. It forces you to concentrate on those you are training and it
provides you with the best possible method of checking whether the training has been successful
or not. In this case they will either be able to select the correct extinguisher or they will not.
After you have defined your objectives, you need to think about the people you will be training.
6.2. Preparation
What in particular must you consider about those you will be training when preparing a safety
session?
Write down some of your answers down and we will compare it with ours.
We suggest bearing in mind:
Group size.
Their existing knowledge and skills.
The questions you think they might ask.
What sort of people they are.
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Once you have defined the objectives of the training session and thought about the group you
will be training you must plan the sessions structure, the activities you will use, the rough timing
and how best to use the settings of the training in order to support what you want to achieve.
Structure
Logical
Varied
Active
The structure of a good training session should be logical, so that you build the groups
knowledge and skills systematically. It should also be varied which will enable you to hold their
interest and keep them active, discuss and, wherever possible, learn by doing.
You make your session structure active and varied by using the right mixture of activities.
Training activities
Lectures
Discussion
Small groups
Videos
Question and answer session
Demonstration
Inspections
Practice
Equipment
Personal protection equipment

Breathing apparatuses
Fire extinguishers
Gas detectors
Safety signs
Watertight doors
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It is easy to make safety training active and practical. Just think about all the equipment you can
use. No doubt you can add some to this list.
We will illustrate how to use some of the training activities when we come to the session itself.
But before we finish with the preparation section, we should mention three other issues for you
to think about.
First of all, there is timing. You will find that, with practice, you will get better at estimating how
long your training session will take. Try to avoid cramming too much into a too short time
period. It is much better to run two separate, relatively relaxed sessions than one frantic one.
Second, once you have a clear idea of what you are going to do, how you are going to do it and
roughly how long it will take, make some simple notes to guide you as you go along.
Third, the setting you choose has an important effect on how the session works.
Safety training lends itself to the use of real settings. Get out of
training rooms as much as you can.
When you do run sessions in training rooms, avoid organizing

the room like this if you want to encourage discussion.
Communication does not work well when people cannot make
eye contact with one another.
This is much better. The group is

smaller, they can see each other and the safety Officer is seated
down which makes the atmosphere much less formal.
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Let us summarise where we have got to. We began with three important principles. Safety
training must be relevant and active. Few and frequent trainings is the best approach.
Next we looked at preparation defining objectives, thinking about the group to be trained,
designing a logical structure, selecting different activities, estimating the sessions timing,
preparing some simple notes and getting the setting right.
Now we come to the session itself.
6.3. Training
Objectives
How long
What you will cover
Questions?
How you will do it
It is very important to let those you are training know where you are taking them before you
plunge into the subject itself. People do not like mystery tours. So explain, briefly, the objectives
what they will be able to do as a result of the training; what you will cover; how you will do it
and how long it will take. It is often a good idea to put the outline programme up on the wall
where the group can see it or give them each a copy so that they can follow where you have got
to.
If you want to encourage discussion during the session, try to start right at the begining by asking
questions. For example: Who has worn a breathing set before?.
During the session
Using a video
Small group discussions
Trainers behaviour
Practice
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Once you have got the session going you will follow the logical structure you have designed and
outlined in your introduction.
We are now going to explain four practical aspects of what you might do during a training
session using a video, having a small group discussion, which are the good ways to behave as a
trainer and practice.
Using a video
With some training videos your best approach would be to simply show them from beginning to
the end and then lead the discussion of the lessons. But do not forget that you can stop, rewind
and fast forward videos. This lets you be more creative in how you use them.
For example, look at this short video sequence and watch what happens.
Let us suppose you were using this one on a training session. You play it for the group, perhaps
more than once. And than you start the discussion.
First you ask them what happened. One rating is unconscious in the enclosed space and the other
goes down to help him and has overcome himself.
Then you ask: What did they do wrong? In this case both these ratings, and particularly the
second one, should have tested the atmosphere before going into the enclosed space. He should
have also call for help, etc.
Then you get the group to draw general lessons from this situation. For example, people ought to
be equipped with portable gas detectors, there should be an entry permit system, and everyone
must be properly trained in the dangers of enclosed spaces.
Finally you encourage the group to discuss how these general lessons apply to your ship for
example, do you have teams capable of emergency entries to enclosed spaces? Does everyone
who comes on board, including contractors, understand the permit to work system?
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So when you are using videos for training think about using them creatively.
Small group discussions
Small groups are often a good way of promoting discussion and encouraging even the quiet ones
taking part to contribute. Sometimes you may get a better response if you allow those taking part
to choose the groupings and each small group to appoint its own spokesperson.
If you are training people who are reluctant to speak up in front of a group, an alternative
approach for collecting ideas is to have them write their ideas on Post-it Notes. You stick them
up on a white aboard and then you can all gather round, read them, and categorize them.
Now we will kindly ask you to think about particular aspects of what you do when you are
running a training session your behaviour.
Watch the video to see this trainer in action.
Trainers behaviour
What did the trainer do well on this sequence?
Write down some of your answers and we will compare them with ours.
His explanation was very clear.

He got the sequence absolutely right.
He did not rush.
He observed the group.
He reassured them.
He stated reasons.
There is something else he does which is very important. Watch this sequence.
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He has thought of an original way of getting across the most important point in the entire session
the fact that it is essential to do all these tests on the equipment before using it, no matter how
urgent the emergency may be.
As well as demonstrating how to put on the breathing equipment, a trainer would want to be sure
that each member of the group practises doing it for themselves.
Watch the sequence.
Again, the trainer does a number of things well. He observes Paul intently throughout. He
encourages him thats right he says more than once. He adds important details. Remember
when he says: one leg forward, one leg back to get good balance. It was very important that he
corrected Pauls mistake when taking his hand of the wheel immediately.
Ending the session
First of all, summarise. Go back to the objectives and programme you outlined at the beginning
and briefly pull together everything you have covered. By doing this you are completing a
structure which you will recognise every time you watch the news on TV. It goes like this.
First tell them what you are going to tell them. Then you tell them. Then you tell them what you
have told them.
Next, make sure you have asked for and answered any final question.
Finally, encourage all those taking part to think about what, specifically, they will do as a result
of what they have learned.
So far, we have outlined the principles of safety training and discussed how to prepare and run
the session itself. We should conclude by saying a few words on the follow-up.
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6.4. Follow-up
Follow-up does not start after the training. It starts before it! This may sound strange, but what
this means is that the action that the session produces depends on how well you defined its
objectives, designed its structure and delivered its contents.
Follow-up is also something you can influence during the session itself. Take every opportunity
to talk about how the participants will apply in practice what they are learning when they get
back to work.
At the end of the session make a note of the actions which individuals say they will take and
then, later on, find out how they have got on.
Talk to those who have taken part about aspects of the training during your day to day work.
What have they found useful? What further questions do they have?
Finally how did you do? Spend a few minutes thinking about how the session went. Did the
timings work out? Was the structure correct? Were the various activities you used effective?
What went particularly well? What would you like to charge next time around?
This Part has been about safety training. We started with some key principles. You then learned
how to prepare a training session, including defining objectives, choosing different training
activities and making the best possible use of the settings.
After that we covered the training session itself how to begin, what to do during the session
and how to end it. Finally you learned how to follow up a training session.
At this point you will take test on this Part of the Course.
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7. Creating a Safety Culture
Introduction
The iceberg theory of occupational accidents show that the causes of accidents result from the
unsafe work, inappropriate human behaviour, the interaction between human behaviour and
work producing hazardous situation, and inappropriate management system. As these causes
induce death and serious injuries, which implies the importance for a business organisation to
establish a culture for working safety.
A corporate culture is a set of shared attitudes, values, goals and practices that characterises a
company. It can affect the way employees feel, act, think and make decisions. Therefore, a safety
culture of an organization can be defined as a set of all members common attitudes toward,
goals of, values and faiths in safety. It is also about all employees abilities and behaviours that
demonstrate on the safety practices.
Seafarers working habits and culture
The safety of shipping mainly relies on seafarers. Crew that are not responsible, of weak crisis
awareness, of insufficient knowledge, and of belief on empiricism often are used to have habits
of violation of policies and make human errors. The formation of crew's bad working habits and
culture probably results from three main areas, such as inappropriate working management,
working atmosphere or culture, and crews perception of working.
Inappropriate management: It includes job misarranged, weak command of managers and

ineffective supervision, which consequently will dilute crews awareness of working safety.
Working atmosphere or culture: Work atmosphere and culture on ship will influence crews
attitude toward working. If senior crew with the habit of careless and sloppiness, they would
repeatedly affect new crews working manners.
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Crews perception of working: perception of working such as I just do following others do, I
can not solve the problem which others can not solve, it is safe as long as there is no accident,
today is safe as yesterday was safe are usually circulated on board. These perceptions may
cover potential symptoms of hazard and prevent crews from taken precautions against accidents,
which will result in a bad quality of safety management owing to ineffective implementation of
working rules and regulations.
7.1. The Safety Culture of Shipping Company
The varying levels of commitment, competence, and compliance with safety can be best
explained in terms of the three types of culture in shipping companies. The first type is called
avoidance culture. Companies belonging to this type avoid complying with the existing
international rules and regulations, and they trade within those areas where they know such
regulations are not adequately enforced or are simply ignored for the right price. The second type
is compliance culture. The majority of ship owners may have this type of culture. The strategy is
to adopt a minimalist approach to safety compliance. Ship operators in this category strive to
maintain the minimum safety standard and seek to comply in the cheapest possible way
regardless of the long term costs and benefits. The final type of culture is safety culture. A small
but growing number of ship owners belong to this group; typically they are the large and leading
operators trading both within the region and with the rest of the world. This groups approach is
characterised by a growing focus on quality management, which typically serves as the
framework within which safety requirements are met.
The compliance culture indeed can facilitate the achievement of better safety management and
performance through the forces of cohesion, norms, leadership and motivations without
increasing ship owners expenditure. Concretely, the function of a good safety culture is to
cohere crews values, aims, and norms of safety, through which crew can be led to achieve self-
control and self-administration to adjust their own values in and behaviours toward safety, and to
comply with all the standards and code of conduct of safety, and, furthermore, to explore
creativity enthusiastically.
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Establishing a culture for working safety on board
Policies and practices of safety are used for regulating crews operations through reward and
punishment to pursue the working process implemented successfully. Nevertheless, such
management system is not sufficient to achieve the goal of a good safety performance.
Establishing a culture that place the safety issue as the highest priority is also necessary and
crucial to facilitate the achievement of the goal. With this culture, crew can be nurtured to have
higher awareness of safety and to feel an obligation to safety-without concern for repercussions.
The concrete strategies to establish a safety culture on board include (1) management and crews
commitments to safety; (2) the provision of safe works and safety policies and practices, and
confirmation whether crew have high awareness of and good attitudes toward safety prior to
work; (3) the safety issue related to work is of the priority to be paid attention than other matters;
(4) a safety culture is identified as part of corporate culture; (5) effective vertical and horizontal
communication about safety issues between managers and crews; (6)clear policies in relation to
reward and punishment for safety matters; (7) adequate provision of training; (8) establishing
and maintaining a safe workplace and working environment; (9) implementing risk management
of routine work; and (10) establishing a good evaluation and control system of safety
management.
Creating a safety culture
Every single person who works for the company, from the Chief Executive to the most junior
rating, has a responsibility for safety. The ISM Code recognises this. The preamble says:
In matters of safety and pollution prevention it is the commitment, competence and motivation of
all individuals at all levels which determines the results.
In other words, it is about creating a culture in which everyone puts safety first.
This Part is all about how you, as the ships Safety Officer, can help to create a safety culture on
your ship in which every member of the crew plays an active role in making it a safe place to live
and work.
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You will learn about the need for senior managers to support the safety culture and identify ways
in which they can do this. You will recognise how to use clear, specific targets to focus attention
on improvements of safety. You will identify ways to communicate the safety message and
involve your fellow crew members in promoting safe practice. And you will review the
contribution which your own behaviour can make to strengthening the safety culture.
When we complete this Part you will undertake Project File and use guidance it contains to
review how effectively the safety message is communicated to everyone on your ship and make
recommendations for improvement.
What is culture?
Shared beliefs
Similar behaviour
Mutual support
Before we get into practical details of creating a safety culture, what exactly does the word
culture mean? The simplest way to answer that question is to think about an organisation that
has a very strong culture. Here are three examples, the crew of a lifeboat, a Buddhist monastery
and Manchester United FC. What is it that makes members of these three very different
organisations stand out from everybody else?
First, a set of clear, strong and, most important, shared beliefs. The man and women who crew
lifeboats are committed to saving lives at sea, Buddhists share a set of spiritual beliefs and
Manchester United supporters know that they are the best.
Second, their beliefs cause them to behave in similar ways.
Finally, they see themselves as a community they support each other.
That is your goal for creating a safety culture on your ship a crew that really believes in the
importance of safety, puts safety first in everything they do and looks out for one another's
safety.
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7.2. Creating a Safety Culture
Support from Senior Management

On Board
Ashore
So how do you create and strengthen a safety culture? Well, it has to start at the top. People in all
organisations base much of their behaviour on what they can see is important to their bosses. To
the crew of a ship it is the behaviour and attitude of the Master and the other officers which will
carry the most weight, but they will also be influenced by how managers from head office treat
safety issues.
Senior managers how to show that they care about safety
The Master attends safety Committee meetings
The Master or Head of Department introduces safety training sessions.
Safety is a permanent item on the agendas of shipboard management team meetings.
The Master and other officers talk about safety as they go about their daily work in
particular they praise safe practice when they see it.
When decisions have to be taken which involve a choice between, for example, taking a
small risk to save time, and sticking with the safe approach, officers do not compromise
when it comes to safety.
There is a stated safety policy for the ship, ideally written and signed by the Master. If
there is an official, company policy displayed on the ship, it will make this much more
relevant to the crew if the Master adds a few words to support it.
Head office will be seen to spend money on improving safety, even when there is no
obvious commercial benefit in doing so.
Targets
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So, the foundation of a positive safety culture is support from senior managers. Once that it is
established, you can begin to identify targets for improving safety on board. Action speaks
louder than words, so when the crew sees that you and your fellow officer are working towards
improvements and achieving them, they will realize that you are serious and not just paying lip
service to the subject.
You will remember that in the chapter on Your Role as the safety Officer we recommended
that you and the Master should reach an agreement on some medium term objectives. Let us now
look in more detail at how to achieve this.
Targets should be like Albert Einstein SMART! That is Specific, Measurable, Agreed, realistic
and Time based.
Here is an example.
First, specific. Make sure you describe a target and not just a task. A target is the end result you
achieve. To turn carry out a risk assessment of routine maintenance in the engine room from a
task into a target you have to add something like this. Using the words so that is often a helpful
way of making you focus on the end result you want to achieve.
Next comes measurable. Sometimes you can attach numbers that you can count to targets, but
this is not always possible. In this case, in order to know whether you have achieved the target or
not, you must define what is meant by the words significant improvement.
Then there is the agreement. It is essential to agree what you are going to aim at, particularly if
the numbers are a bit rough and ready and some measures are about quality of delivery and do
not have numbers attached to them at all. In this case you would agree the target and the work
needed to achieve it with Chief Engineer and discuss what you were going to do with the other
engine room personnel.
Targets must also be realistic. Why three improvements? Why not thirty three? The answer is:
because success motivates people and failure demoralises them. Aim for targets you can
achieve.
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Finally, targets must be time based. Deadlines turn vague resolution we must do something
about safety into firm commitments.
Communication
Of course you will not make much progress creating a safety culture if you keep the subject
secret! Communication is essential. Some safety information is compulsory. You have to provide
muster list. Still, keep in mind that the communication does not end here.
Specific types of safety information which it would be helpful to communicate to those on bord
your ship:
Summaries of safety Committee meetings
Summaries of safety issues discussed at shipboard management team meetings
Safety information from head office
Relevant safety statistics, such as the number of minor injuries plotted week by week or
the number of days since a lost time accident.
Safety success stories improvements made, suggestions implemented.
Safety policies
Communication:
What?
How?
Written or verbal or both
Visible
Location
Relevance
Variety
It is important to decide which safety information to communicate, but you must also think about
ways to do it.
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Should it be written or verbal, or both? It is very often a good idea to reinforce safety
information by using more than one method to get across it.
How can you make written information visible, so that crew members read it?
It is all too easy for notice boards to become like wallpaper, so think about how to catch peoples
attention, perhaps by using coloured felt pens or highlighters, or even drawings or posters.
Location is also part of getting written safety messages noticed. Try not to use the obvious
places. For example, put stickers on the ships washroom mirrors saying something like: You
are looking at the person responsible for your safety on this ship!. Use your imagination.
Always try to make information relevant to those you want to act upon it. For example, if you get
some rather general safety directive from head office, tell your fellow seafarers what this means
to us is.
Keep the safety message up to date by varying it. Publish a safety tip of the month. Tell people
about safety success stories as they happen. Give the crew the right safety message at the right
time we are docking tomorrow, so think about those safety precautions..., or: Were about
to encounter some heavy weather, so make sure you have...
Involvement
There is one feature of communication which we have not mentioned so far and it is crucial.
Communication has to happen two-ways. A safety culture is not just about you and your fellow
officer telling the crew about safety. It is also very much about them telling you and all of you
working together to make things better.
Involvement is the key to a safer ship.
You will see on video an example what this mean in practice.
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Involvement:
Suggestion schemes:
Set up a system
Publicise and promote it
Act on the suggestions
Safety suggestion schemes are a simple method for encouraging the crew to provide comments
and ideas, anonymously if they wish. So set up a system that is easy to use and takes account of
practical issues such as how to process suggestions which ratings make in their own language.
Publicise and promote it. You may, for example, want to display a graph of the number of
suggestions you are getting.
Of course there is one other, absolutely essential step you must take to make a system like this to
work act on the suggestions. If the crew see their ideas taken seriously they will give you more.
If nothing happens they will stop giving you any.
Recognition
When somebody comes up with a good idea it gives you the opportunity to use recognition to
encourage involvement from everybody else. If people see a notice which says safety tip of the
Week Ante Antic has suggested that would motivate him and will make his fellow seafarers
want to do something to obtain similar public recognition for them as well.
Committees and representatives

Regular members
Invited individuals
An active Safety Committee and an enthusiastic Safety representative are another way of
involving crew members in the promotion of the safety culture. We deal with how to find
representatives and set up, organize and run a committee in the Part titled The safety
committee.
Once you have got committee running smoothly, do not always restrict its meetings to the
regular members. There will often be individuals who may not be representatives, but who can
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contribute to particular issues the committee wants to discuss. So invite them along because of
that issue. It all broadens the net of involvement.
Safety training:
Discussion
Examples vs. statistics
Crew members experiences
Representatives
Other officers
Safety training is another opportunity to involve crew members. To do this, try to encourage
discussion and avoid too much lecturing when you are running safety training.
Remember that examples of accidents and near misses are always much more interesting than
statistics. Use the experience of those crew members taking part to bring the subject to life.
Do not run all the safety training by yourself. Get safety representatives and other officers
involved.
Your behaviour
Finally, your own behaviour will make a very important contribution to the ships safety culture.
Because you carry the title Safety Officer you must be an example according to which crew
members can model their own behaviour.
Specific things you can do to act as example to others:
Fix potential problems whenever you come across them. Symbolism has a very important
influence on peoples behaviour. If you are seen to care even about minor problems a
bit of oil on the deck, a toolbox placed where someone might trip on it other will start
to pay attention as well.
Provide information. We have mentioned here some of the relatively formal ways of
communicating. Do not forget to use your informal, day to day contacts as well.
Ask questions about safety: What did you think about this weeks safety tip?
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Act as a discreet complaints service. Let people know that they can tell you about unsafe
practices in confidence.
Coach people. Though formal training is essential, if you see someone doing something
not quite right do not miss the opportunity to put them straight.
Give constructive criticism. Do not ignore safety lapses, however minor.
Give praise, congratulate them when doing something right.
Let us see on this video an example of a safety Officer tackling safety issues as part of his
day to day work.
This section has been all about how you, as the ships safety officer, can help to create a
safety culture on your ship in which every member of the crew plays an active role in making
it a safe place to live and work.
You have learned about the need for senior managers to support the safety culture and you
have identified ways in which they can do this. You have seen how to use clear, specific
targets to focus attention on improvements in safety. You have identified ways to
communicate the safety message and involve your fellow crew members in promoting safe
practice. And you have reviewed the contribution which your own behaviour can make to
strengthen the safety culture.
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7.3. The New Approach to Safety
1. Necessary and meaningful
For us humans to be motivated to change our behaviour, we need to understand the necessity for
the change required.
When things do not make sense, they are seldom attended to.
Tools
Communicate the company's objectives and wishes. It shows why is it important for the crew to
take safety seriously.
A review of accidents and descriptions of the human and financial consequences can form part of
an explanation of why it is necessary to do things differently.
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2. Resources and competencies
If people are to change their behaviour, they must have the preconditions for doing so, such as
sufficient knowledge, time and the skills.
Tools
Management training that enables managers to handle safety management and general
management.
Training employees in safety.
Planning work to take greater account of safety.
Involving users when drawing up procedures so they fit in with practical day-to-day routines e.g.
rest hours.
3. Culture providing support
If you show consideration for each other, you are much more likely to ensure that everyone in
the team acts appropriately.
Tools
Team building courses for crews and gangs can increase consideration so that people support and
back each other up in acting safely.
Conflict and stress management courses for management and teams.
Courses in holding employee appraisals can help increase the level of consideration for each
other.
Establishing regular work teams can provide an organizational solution that helps in building up
a corporate culture.
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4. Feedback and evaluation
Human conduct is very much affected by the way we are assessed and the feedback we receive.
Tools
Do assessments of managers and crew that include acting safely.

Use safety as a parameter for promotion.
Accident investigations that show how and why it went wrong.
Learning from and analysis of near-misses.
5. Spread out the message
External awareness and recognition help maintain people's focus on the conduct required, and
can help promote it.
Tools
Make successes visible and celebrate them.

Campaigns, notice boards, happenings.
Magazines, bulletins, newsletters, company forum.
6. Key personnel
There are various key personnel who are well known and who tend to set the scene.
They can be people who have a "bit more to say" in the workplace. (Personality, highly
experienced, good reputation).
Tools
Setting up safety ambassador group with people who have the status, the right values and
approach.
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Give safety groups the status to make them function and enjoy the necessary respect both
upwards and downwards in the organization.
Ensure that those who set the agenda involved and become allies.
7. Involvement and ownership
We are much more motivated to implement decisions in which we have been involved.
There is more certainty of decisions being implemented in practice if the people who actually
have to do so have been involved in the decision making process.
Tools
Involvement of stakeholders when policies, procedures and instructions need to be drawn up.
Involvement of employees in reviewing safety and inspections and risk assessments.
8. Manager as a role model
We learn/copy the conduct of others. The manager is one of the most important people in the
workplace. It is essential that he understands his job, position, and value as a role model for
safety.
Otherwise he signals to the crew that safety is not so important regardless of what the policies,
guidelines, systems, etc., may say. Actions are more powerful than paper.
Tools
Recruitment of managers who appreciate the importance of health and safety.

Courses on good leadership at sea or coaching can help focus on the managers role in a safety
culture and his/her responsibilities.
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Conclusion
In addition to promoting a safe operation, the importance of a safety culture is that it makes good
business sense for a shipping company as alternatively it would be costly to the company,
including monetary cost and company reputation. Shipping companies need to evaluate their
current culture of safety and move toward the third type safety culture mentioned previously.
Leadership and management unconditional commitment as well as crews participation play vital
roles in establishing a safety culture. Changing culture takes time, however, it must to be done
for improving working standard and quality so that the costs resulted from accidents can be
avoided and further tangible benefits can be generated for companies.
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Safe Place to Work and Live
8. Risk Assessment
8.1. General
From its very nature, there is no unique Risk Assessment methodology to be applied in any
context. There are no fixed rules how risk assessment should be undertaken and the assessment
depends on the type of the ship, the nature of operations and the type and extend of the hazards
and risks.
Risk Assessment basic Terminology
Accident: An unintended event involving fatality, injury, ship loss or damage, other property
loss or damage, or environmental damage.
Consequence: The outcome of an accident
Frequency: The number of occurrences per unit time (e.g. per year)
Hazard: A potential to threaten human life, health, property or the environment
Risk: The combination of the frequency and the severity of the consequence.
Risk Assessment basic principles and ISM Code
As defined in paragraph 1.2 of the ISM Code (objectives), the requirement for the assessment
and management of risks is fundamental to the code.
The ISM Code does not specify any particular approach to the management of risk, and it is for
the company to choose methods appropriate to its organizational structure, its ships and its
trades. The methods may be more or less formal, but they must be systematic, in order
assessment and response to be complete and effective and the entire process should be
documented so as to provide evidence of the decision-making process.
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The principle of Safety Management involves managing and controlling risks levels of hazards
and keeping them within acceptable levels. This process involves seeking answers to following
questions:
1. What could go wrong?
2. What happens if it goes wrong?

3. What are the chances to go wrong?
4. How could the chances/ effects be reduced?
5. What to do if it goes wrong?
6. How can we Manage risk levels?
The first two questions involve identifying the hazards and prioritizing them based on the
consequences. The third question determines the probability of occurrence or the frequency of
occurrence of the hazard, and question number four involves risk reduction. Question number
five involves emergency preparedness. Finally question number six involves safety Management.
Risk Assessment (RA) and Risk Management (RM)
The purpose of the RA and RM is to minimize risk to personnel, property and the environment.
In this respect, all activities that could adversely affect Companys operations and performance
are evaluated and appropriate measures are taken to ensure that risk is either reduced or
maintained at an acceptable level.
Risk is managed by identifying hazards, assessing consequences and probabilities and evaluating
and implementing prevention and mitigation measures.
Risk Assessment requires:
Job familiarity
Practical experience with the job
Information regarding incident/ operation / activity
Active participation of persons running the risk
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Open mind for any suggestions
Proper application of the RA methodology
Introducing risk assessment in the Company/fleet
In order a Company to introduce a structured risk assessment program the following stages are
suggested:
Development of a risk assessment methodology/procedure with relevant reports
Communicate the new policy to the fleet and explain the need/benefits of same
Training: through seminars and/or presentations and/or fleet circulars
Identify who should carry out the risk assessments: it is not necessary to involve everyone
participates in the operation to participate in the risk assessment of this operation. Usually used
small teams but never only one person
DPA (or risk expert) and/or Superintendents should advise the fleet of how risk assessments
should be carried out onboard the vessel, by whom, when, how often
Completed risk assessments should be submitted to the Company for analysis and review
8.2. Risk assessment process
Although there are many different RA methodologies, in general a usual approach is as follows:
Step 1: Identification of shipboard operations / systems / tasks
Step 2: Identification of Hazards
Step 3: Identification of existing control measures
Step 4: Risk Evaluation
Calculation of risk
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Probability (or frequency) Determination
Consequence (or Severity) Assessment
Step 5: Risk Reduction
Action and Timescale
Identification and implementation of new Risk Control measures
Step 6: Review of risk assessment
Evaluation of control measures
Need for new risk assessment
Periodical review of risk assessment
Accidents / near misses
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Step 1
Identification of shipboard operations / tasks requiring RA When to perform a risk

assessment
RAs are conducted in order to identify and address potential hazards to personnel, property and
the environment, for:
a. existing shipboard operations/tasks
b. in case of new operations/tasks
c. in case of non-routine tasks
d. in case of changes to procedures or equipment.
e. in case of incidents, accidents, serious near misses, etc.
f. prior to the introduction of new critical equipment or procedures.
g. for preparation of complex or high risk jobs and projects.
When deciding which operations/tasks to assess first, normally selected these which have the
more potential of loss/harm to personnel, property and the environment, or to those related to the
existing accident records. In practice the risks in the workplace should be assessed before work
begins on any task which no valid risk assessment exists.
Grouping work activities
A useful approach is to identify separate work activities, to group them in a rational and
manageable way and to gather the necessary information. Infrequent tasks/operations should also
be included. Possible ways of grouping work activities:
a. department/location
b. stages of an operation/work
c. planned/unscheduled maintenance
d. defined tasks (routine/unroutine ones)
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Step 2
Identification of Hazards
What is a hazard?
A hazard is simply a situation/condition which has the capability to cause damage, harm or other
loss. A hazard can only be observed and recognized. Hazards are around us and cannot be taken
away. Risk however can be identified, analyzed and dealt with.
The hazard is the cause of an event/accident therefore should not be confused with the event
itself (e.g hazard: fog event/accident: collision).
In identifying a hazard the type of harm and to whom/what has also to be identified.
Purpose
The purpose of this step is to identify and generate a prioritized list of hazards, specific to the
problem under review. This purpose is achieved by the use of standard techniques to identify
hazards, which can contribute to accidents, and by screening these hazards using a combination
of available data and judgment.
Approach
The approach used for hazard identification generally comprises a combination of both creative
and analytical techniques, the aim being to identify as many relevant hazards as possible. The
creative element is to ensure that the process is proactive, and not confined only to hazards that
have been materialized in the past. The analytical element ensures that previous experience is
properly taken into account, and should make use of background information (for example
applicable regulations and codes, available statistical data on accident categories and lists of
hazards to personnel, hazardous substances, ignition sources, etc.)
Following are some examples of hazards:
Mechanical (related to working equipment): misuse/defective equipment, power tools,

lifting equipment, windlass, anchoring, etc.
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Electrical (electrocution, fire): high voltage, exposed/worn cables, not grounded
equipment etc
Physical (related to working environment conditions): weather, noise, vibration, cargo

stowage/lashing, working alone/aloft, confined spaces, slippery surfaces, poor lighting,
etc.
Radiation (energy emission): heat radiation, extreme light, etc.
Substances: Flammable, dangerous goods, etc.
Fire/explosion: flammable cargoes, combustible materials, hot works, etc.
Psychological: fatigue, claustrophobia, vertigo, etc.
Popular Techniques
The basic principle of these techniques is to provide a systematic approach for identifying
potential hazards in complex systems. These techniques are based on a combination of applying
past experience, accepting what is obvious, preparing a checklist of items that can go wrong in
an activity and cross referencing with an established database of hazards.
Below Table summarizes some of the commonly used techniques to identify hazards.
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Step 3
Identification of existing controls/measures
Before the harmful effects of a hazard can be determined, existing controls/measures that may
mitigate the effects of that hazards has to be taken into account.
During any operation, controls can be: procedural, human recourses, training, control systems,
appropriate design and construction, maintenance, communication, use of proper equipment etc.
Step 4
Risk Evaluation
Note
The tables shown below, in this step, are in the form in which they most commonly appear, but
they are not mandatory. The risk matrix may be expanded to include more rows and columns,
depending on how finely the company wishes to distinguish the categories. The terms used for
likelihood and consequence may be changed to assist understanding.
Qualitative and quantitative methods for determination of risk level
There are two main methods for determination of risk level, qualitative and quantitative. In
qualitative risk assessment, someone is using personal judgment whereas in quantitative can
actually be measured based on company and/or industry data.
Calculation of risk
Risk is normally evaluated as a function of the severity of the possible Consequences (C) for a
hazard and the Frequency/Probability (P) of occurrence of that particular hazard.
Usually is used a simple relation between C and P, to calculate the risk (R):
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Given this knowledge, estimated risk of hazards can be used to make reliable decisions in terms
of improving safety by reducing the risk and risks can be reduced by reducing the severity of the
consequences, reducing the frequency/probability of occurrence or a combination of the two.
Probability (or frequency) Determination
Frequency analysis is used to estimate how likely it is that the various incidents or hazards will
occur (i.e. the probability of occurrence). The probability is determined based on the sequence of
events in the hypothetical scenario.
The Risk Matrix defines probability levels based on the frequency at which the hypothetical
scenario is likely to occur as indicating in the following table:
In order to establish the likelihood of harm the adequacy of control measures already in place
should be considered.
Consequence (or Severity) Assessment
Consequences may be grouped into three general categories: health and safety of
employees/public, environment, property. A severity level is assigned for each of the 3
categories based on the consequences specified in the hypothetical scenario.
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Assessment of the level of the risk using risk criteria
Level of risk is evaluate based on the severity and probability as estimated by the RA process
and categorize their possible combinations to be High, Medium or Low risk within the Risk
Matrix. Once the risk level has been determined, the response can be defined. Higher risk levels
require a greater level of response.
High/Intolerable Risk: Goal is to take steps to reduce risk to at least a medium level.
Medium/ Tolerable Risk: Perform RA and identify risk control measures.
Low/Negligible Risk: Address as part of normal, on-going improvement processes.
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Qualitative risk table
Once the levels of likelihood and consequence have been determined, the level of risk can be
found using, as example, the following qualitative risk table:
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Step 5
Risk Reduction
ALARP (As Low As Reasonable Practicable) Principle
The methods of reducing the risk level of a hazard can be put in one scale and balanced against
efforts needed in another. This effort may be represented by money or time or a combination of
the two. If it can be shown that there is a gross imbalance between the two, e.g. the reduction of
risk level is insignificant compared to the cost of implementing the solution, it will not be
reasonably practicable to go ahead.
Purpose
The purpose of this step is:
Eliminate Hazards with intolerable risk at whatever cost. If this is not practicable
abandoning the operation should be considered.
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Reducing the risk of those in ALARP region if it is cost effective. Higher costs could be
considered acceptable if the risk is close to the intolerable region.
Reducing the risk levels of those in the negligible region with minimal effort.
Action and Timescale
The below table indicates the actions required and the timescale for response in order to address
and reduce the Risk. Risk Categories are the basis for deciding whether improved control
measures are required and the timescale for action.
Identification and implementation of new Risk Control measures
The most important step in the RA process is the identification and implementation of risk
control measures to reduce or eliminate the identified risks. Control measures can only be
effective if they are closely linked to the causes. Once you know the causes, you know the
needed measures. It is wrong policy to take measures without previously having identified the
causes. However do not stay with general measures but make a clear planning, who, when, what
etc.
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Risk reduction policy should be applied in the following sequence:
Try to remove/replace the hazard it self
Eliminate the likelihood of the occurrence by taking away the causes in the first place
Install rescue devices in your system to ensure an occurrence, once started, will stop
timely
Isolate the hazard source or reduce exposure time
Take measures to reduce likelihood, usually related to organizational measures
Protect the operator from the hazard
Reduce the impact by providing PPE.
Ensure emergency response is efficient in case something goes wrong.
The highest level of measure is to remove the hazard itself, whereas the lowest level is to reduce
the effects of the accident as much as possible. The more you take measures close to the source
the better.
Risk reduction methods could be categorized as:
Management Method: Methods based on development of a safety culture, improved

effectiveness of communication, training, etc.
Engineering Method: Incorporate additional engineering features to enhance safety
Operational method: Implementing/updating proper procedures
Combination of all of above.
Following the selection of the appropriate new control measures, the Risk ranking process should
be repeated in order to evaluate if the risk is reduced to a lower Category e.g. from Intolerable to
Tolerable in case of implementing the selected new control measures. The process should be
repeated again in order to reach the lowest possible Category.
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Step 6
Review of assessment
Evaluation of control measures
In this step, implementation of the new control measures is followed up and recorded and
evaluation of the controls should be made to ensure they remain in place and have the desired
effect.
Need for new risk assessment
Risk assessment should not normally be carried out every time an operation/task takes place. The
original risk assessment can be reviewed instead of performing a new one, provided that nothing
has changed and the applicability of the existing procedures is ensured. However the risk
assessment should be carried out if there changes in materials, equipment, operations/procedures,
software etc.
Periodical review of risk assessment
Performed risk assessments should reviewed periodically to ensure the applicability of existing
procedures/conditions and periodicity may vary depending on the hazard level of the
operation/task/system.
Accidents / near misses
In cases of accidents or near misses, the risk assessment should be reviewed to determine if a
control/measure failed, a control is missing or new hazards are present.
Comments
The risk assessment process never stops because the system will make use of previous
experience, new measures will be based on improved measures and so on.
The risk assessments records should be filed and organized under the SMS filing system in order
to be easily retrievable otherwise there will be the need of repetitive assessments of the same
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operation and on the other hand there will not be the necessary objective evidence as may be
requested by auditors/PSC etc.
To summarize, risk assessment is about indentifying hazards and assessing the risks the
combination of likelihood and consequences which they pose.
There are techniques for doing this which we will cover in the next section.
Bear in mind, though, that there is more to risk assessment than simply applying a technique.
Risk assessment also plays a major part in building a positive safety culture. We deal with this in
more details in Section Think Safe, Be Safe Parts of this Course.
Two points are particularly important here. The first is:
Active support from Heads of Departments.
If risk management matters to the captain and to the chief engineer, it will become important to
everyone on board. Little by little the safety culture will develop in which everyone works to
manage risks and minimize that way the number of accidents and losses.
The second important part of a safety culture is no-blame reporting system.
Listen to what these Masters have to say about a no-blame reporting system.
We may listen again if you wish.
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What is risk assessment?
Now that you know what Risk Assessment is, please list what you think its benefits might be on
your ship. We will compare your thoughts with ours.
Risk Assessment can help to:
Protect the safety of the crew by reducing accidents

Indentify hazards before they cause problems
Reduce accidents and near misses
Increase awareness of hazard
Strengthen the safety culture on board
Make us aware of how circumstances alter risks
Helps us spot less obvious risks
Save money prevention is cheaper than cure
Force us to look at risks we might prefer to ignore
Risk assessment Summary
Hazard
Risk
Likelihood
Consequences
Principles
Systematic
Awareness
Prevention
Selection
Safety culture
Active support from Heads of Department
No-blame reporting system
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In this part you have learned the meaning of hazard and the fact that risk is a combination of the
likelihood of something happening as a result of the hazard and the consequences if it does. You
have seen the important principles of risk assessment that it is systematic, involves prevention,
encourages awareness and helps us to select appropriate risks to tackle. In the end this part has
introduced the important issue of safety culture, particularly the needs for active support from
Heads of Departments and no-blame reporting system.
In the next part you will learn how to put risk assessment to work.
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9. How to Apply Risk Assessment?
Risk assessment 1:
Hazard
Risk
Principles
Safety culture
Risk assessment 2: Applying risk assessment
How to apply it?
Project file
A risk assessment on your ship
In the first part on risk assessment you learned about the meaning of hazard and risk, the
principles of risk assessment and the important contribution creating a positive safety culture on
your ship brings.
In this part you will learn about the systematic technique for applying risk assessment.
Systematic technique
1. Identify all hazards

2. Assess risks
3. Explore control options
4. Select and implement
5. Monitor and re-assess
So what is the technique? There are five steps.
First, identify the hazards, meaning all of them.
Second, assess the risks which they pose, concentrating on the most significant and
leaving aside the ones that do not matter.
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Third, explore the options for controlling the significant risks that is removing or
reducing them.
Fourth, select and implement the best ones.
Finally, monitor the steps you take to make sure that they really do reduce risk and, if
they do not, re-assess your approach.
We are going to go through each of these steps using two hazards as examples and asking you to
answer a series of questions.
9.1. Operational Areas
Step 1: Identify the hazards
Working aloft or over the side

Loading or discharging cargo
The galley
Entering a busy port
So the first step is to identify all of the hazards. You break this task down according to the major
operational activities aboard your ship. You identify the hazards for each of these before going
on to the second step systematically assessing their risks.
For example, the operations might include:
Working aloft and over the side
Loading and discharging cargo
Working in the galley
Entering a busy port or passing through Suez or Panama Canal
Clearly it is very important to assess the risks of all the major operations on board, but this is not
a task which can be done quickly. Nor is it something which you should attempt to do on your
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own. Apart from the scale of the work, if you are, for example, a deck officer, you cannot be
expected to recognize all the hazardous operations that are found in an engine room. So it should
be a matter of team effort.
Where do you start?
Ask yourself about:
Worries
Situations you must supervise
Accidents and incidental hot spots
Well, working with Master and your other colleagues, discuss and agree the priorities. To help
you do so, ask yourselves questions such as:
What do we particularly worry about the ship?
Are there situations which we feel need additional supervision because of the fear that
something may go wrong?
Are there activities which seem to create an above avarage number of problems
accidents, incidents, and so on?
We would like you to spend a few minutes thinking about hazardous operations on your
ship.
Two examples of hazards:
Obvious
Harder to spot
We are going to use two examples in in the rest of this section. Like the hazards on your ship,
one is obvious and the other is harder to spot. That is something you need to remember when
doing a real risk assessment.
The first hazard comes from the operation of docking the ship which comprises rigging and
manning gangways.
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Rigging and manning gangways will present several hazards. Rigging them is a task the crew
carry our relatively infrequently. Those doing them in repair docks are often carrying tools and
equipment and they are affected by tidal movements, etc.
The second hazard we will use as an example is the failure on the winch brake during lifeboat
drills. Winch brakes occasionally fail and, since you cannot tell whether they are working by
looking at them, possible failure is a hazard which is easy to overlook. This is why ships
officers sometimes learn to their cost when their vessels fail port state inspections.
Step 2: Assess the risks
...What if?
Likelihood
Consequences
Once you have indentified a hazard, the next step is to assess the risks it poses. This involves
asking what if? questions.
Remember that risk is made up of two factors the likelihood that something will happen and
the consequence if it does.
Rigging and using gangways
The likelihood of accidents while rigging or using gangways is at least medium but under certain
circumstances it can get high.
Similarly, the consequences, though often minor, can be large. Falls from the gangway onto the
dock or into the sea may be rare, but they are not unknown. People can get hooked by the rigging
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arrangements or suffer back injuries while rigging and handling gangways. In such occasions,
minor falls are relatively common.
What about the lifeboat example?
If the likelihood is high, there is something very wrong with the ships routine maintenance and
inspection procedures. The likelihood is probably low to medium, but no matter how good the
maintenance is, failure is certainly not impossible. More concretely, if the winch has been
maintained and inspected properly, it is not very likely that the brake will fail. Still, this is not an
impossible scenario.
The consequences could be very serious. People have been injured and killed when this would
happen during drills. Even in cases where there have been no injuries, ships have been put out of
class by damage done to their lifeboats, resulting in costly delays and, in at least one case, in
cancelation of a charter.
Step 3: Explore the control options
Here you will explore the options for controlling the risk.
We would like you to think about all the options for the two examples.
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Options for winch brake:
Not to lover the lifeboat
Carefully test the brake before the drill with everyone well out on the way
Check the maintenance records and open up mechanisms for inspection if you think the
weather could affect them
Defer drill until the ship in port
Rig safety wires to the boat before lowering.
Step 4: Select and implement the best option(s)
Once you have explored the options for reducing or eliminating the risk, the next step is to select
and implement the best one. Of course, you may choose more than one.
Some options are clearly better than others. Use the 4Ts to help you decide which one to use.
T for Terminate. Can you remove the risk altogether? By carrying out ship repairs in dry dock
you eliminate risks on the gangway caused by tidal movements.
T for Treat. Can you minimize the risk posed by the hazard? You do not stop people falling from
the gangway by rigging a safety net, but at least they do not fall onto the dock or into the sea.
T for Tolerate. Once you have ensured that those using gangway are wearing the proper
protective clothing and are not allowed to carry heavy or awkward loads you can probably accept
the few minor slips which will occur.
T for Transfer. In the case of major refits, the safety officer may formally transfer responsibility
for rigging the gangway to the ship repair company.
Options for controlling the risk associated with rigging and using gangways:
Prepare a safety net (make sure you do a risk assessment and follow any regulations for
rigging the net!)
Ensure proper lighting for night use

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Have a life buoy available at each end of the gangway
Organize a watch
When rigging, ensure that all personnel wear helmets, gloves, safety footwear and a
lifeline
When in use check and adjust for draft
The final option, rig safety wires before lowering, would reduce the consequences of failure
but not the likelihood of it occurring. To choose to defer the drill until the ship is in port would
not reduce the likelihood of brake failure but might make dealing with the consequences easier.
To check the records and open up the brake would be more difficult under certain
circumstances but, if the time permits, it would be appropriate. As for the carefully testing the
brake before the drill, you should know that you must always test the brake if you can T for
Treat is essential in this case.
So, the wrong option here would be not to lower the lifeboat. Of course no one would get hurt
if you do not lower the lifeboat, but that risks the lifeboat not working in a real emergency, it
contravenes the regulations and it is likely to result in the ship failing s port state inspection. In
this case T for Terminate is not an acceptable option.
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What about other people?
Explain what
Explain why
Ask for reactions
Check understanding
Sell the benefits
Sometimes selecting the best option is the easy part. Getting other people to accept and
implement it can be much harder. This is why it is necessary to:
Explain what you want to happen as clearly as you can.
Explain why: we all accept change better if we know the rasons for it.
Encourage reactions, questions and ideas: other people may suggest improvements.
Check if everyone has understood.
Sell the benefits that is the benefits to those involved. It is much better to say this will
prevent you getting hurt, than itll save the company money.
Monitor and re-assess
Look for snags

Avoid blame
Check for effectiveness
Be careful. Implementation is not the last step. You have to monitor and re-assess what you have
done. In particular:
Look for snags. Sometimes what seems like a good idea in theory does not work out so well in
practice.
Avoid blaming people if you notice that they are not implementing your solutions properly. Find
out why instead.
Periodically check if the solution still works.

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Let us summarize. There is a five step technique for applying risk assessment.
First, indentify the hazards all of them.
Second, assess the risks which they pose, concentrating on the most significant and leave aside
the ones that do not matter.
Third, explore the options for controlling significant risks.
Fourth, select and implement the best ones, using 4Ts to help you do so.
Finally monitor the steps you take to make sure that they really do reduce the risk and, if they do
not, re-assess your approach.
Risk assessment 1: hazards, risks, principles, safety culture
Risk assessment 2: applying risk assessment
In the first of two parts on risk assessment you learned about the meaning of hazard and risk, the
principles of risk assessment and the important contribution which it will make to create a
positive safety culture on your ship.
This second part has covered a systematic technique for applying risk assessment.
You will now take the test related to this part.
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10. Safety Inspection
In this part you will learn how to carry out regular safety inspections.
Here is an example. You will probably remember this sequence from the part which outlined
your role as a safety officer.
We have mentioned here that regular safety inspections are your main method for maintaining
and improving the safety standards you have set. You should let people see you pertain to them.
You must take notes. You must keep records. You should check on improvements later.
10.1. Safety Inspections: Process
Plan
Carry out
Report
Follow-up
First, you should plan your inspection.
Then you carry it out.
Next, for every inspection you write a report about what you have found and the actions that are
necessary.
Finally you follow up the inspections to make sure those actions have been taken and that they
have been taken correctly.
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Plan
Where?
What?
When?
Who?
In order to plan your safety inspection you should answer to these four questions:
Where you will inspect? What will you inspect? When will you inspect? Who else will you
involve in your inspection?
Where?
Areas accessible to the crew

Engine room
Deck
Accommodation
Galley
Bridge
etc.
Make your own list
First, where will you inspect? Divide the ship into logical areas for inspection.
These should be areas normally accessible to the crew. Of course, you will take all the proper
precautions if the inspections involve entering an enclosed space. The list will look
approximately like this, but you will have to make your own which will suit your ship.
The next question is What to inspect? As part of your initial planning, you will need to create a
detailed checklist for each area you have identified. We will cover checklists later in this chapter,
but at this point we would like you to think in general terms about what you will look for.
What?
What will you be looking for when you carry out a safety inspection?
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Write down your answers and we will compare them with ours.
Hazards
Unsafe acts
Unsafe conditions
Use of procedures
Emergency readiness
Levels of supervision
Progress since the last inspection
Suggestions for improvement
Good practice
Where and what you should inspect also depends on the pattern of previous problems and
accidents, or any changes made in equipment or shipboard organization and on other reports, for
example from superintendents.
When?
Think about frequency.
The MCA Code of Safe Working Practice states that, for the UK registered ships, inspections of
accessible areas should be no more than 3 months apart.
Does your administration or your company define a minimum frequency of inspection?
Who?
As many as possible
Sell the benefits
Get good ideas
HoDs and safety representatives
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To summarize, you must have a systematic plan for your safety inspection which sets out where,
what and when to inspect. When it comes to small ships, your plan can be quite simple. On large,
complex ships it would have to be more detailed. But you must have a plan.
There is one other issue to think about before you carry out a safety inspection. Who else should
you involve? Explain and reach an agreement on your plan with as many of the crew as you can,
particularly your fellow officer and the safety committee. People can be defensive and it is
essential to get them on your side by selling the benefits of inspection. What is more important,
you will almost certainly get some good ideas about how to improve your inspection.
You will certainly want to involve the appropriate head of department and the safety
representative. Discuss the inspection with them and invite along.
Checklists
We said earlier that you should use a checklist to help make your inspections systematic and
consistent. Here is an example.
Means of access / safe movement
What questions would you include on a checklist for inspecting the means of access and safe
movement in a working area of your ship?
Write down some of your answers and we will compare them with ours.
Type of access available? (e.g., gangways, accommodation ladders, hold access, deck
surfaces etc.)
Ladders and stairs (In safe condition? Well lit? Unobstructed?)
If a means of access is in a dangerous condition (Suitably blocked off? Warning notices
posted?)
Access for both transit and working (Clearly marked? Well lit? Unobstructed?)
Fixtures and fittings which are trip hazards or project, particularly overhead, suitably
marked?
Gear stowed within the area properly secured?
Guard rails? (In place? Secure? In good condition?)
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Any openings suitably fenced?
If portable ladders in use, are they: properly secured, and at the correct angle?
Notes
So use a checklist for consistency. But do not let that stop you from making notes. Again do not
just record faults. Make a note of good points as well.
Finally, you will sometime need to be diplomatic when you are carrying out an inspection,
particularly with your fellow officer. It is much better for you to point out safety problems to the
department head as you come across them, then for him to hear about them for the first time
from the master who has just been reading your report!
Report
Copies; master and department head

Filing system
An effective report?
The next step after planning and carrying out the inspection is to write a report. Yes, more
paperwork!
Normal practice is for copies to go to the Master and the Department Head concerned. In
addition, make sure that you have properly organised system for filing reports, so that they are
available in case of accidents or for inspection by one of the shore based designated safety team.
What do you think an effective report should look like? What do you think are the characteristics
of a good report?
Write down on page some of your answers and we will compare it with ours.
Keep it Short and Simple (KISS)

Use a standard format
Record positive findings as well as negative
Record actions to be taken
Record dates for action to be taken
Record individuals responsible for taking action
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After planning, carrying out and writing your report, the final step is to follow it up. You will
often want to discuss it with the master and the department head concerned. If you do not, they
may want to discuss it with you! It is good practice to report on your findings at the regular
meetings of the safety committee.
Reach an agreement on dates for completion of actions, based on the seriousness of the problem
and the resources needed.
Finally, you must return to the scene of the inspection to check on progress. There are two
reasons for doing this. There is the obvious one: to confirm that safety problems have been fixed.
The second, less obvious reason is to show that you are not just going through the motions
safety really matters.
In this chapter you have learned about the four-step process of safety inspection.
Step 1. Plan your inspections. Decide where and what to inspect, when to do it and who else to
involve.
Step 2. Carry them out. Use checklists, make notes and talk to the department head and the safety
representative about problems.
Step 3. Write a clear, positive report. Distribute and file copies.
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Step 4. Follow up. Discuss it with your colleagues and check that agreed actions have been
implemented.
At this point you will undertake the test based on this part.
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11. Permit to Work Systems
General provisions
The permit-to-work system is a method whereby safety procedures are specified in writing on a
form issued to seafarers who are entrusted with a task which may involve work of a hazardous
nature.
Permits should only be used for the more hazardous task and the system should not become over-
complicated.
The form should describe the work to be carried out and the necessary safety precautions. All
foreseeable hazards should be considered, a predetermined safe procedure should be adopted and
the appropriate precautions should be written down in a correct sequence.
The permit should contain a carefully planned checklist to identify, control or eliminate hazards
and should state the emergency procedure in the event of an accident.
A permit should be issued only by an officer with experience in the work operation. The officer
should ensure that the checks have been properly carried out and, together with the person in
charge, sign the permit only when satisfied that it is safe for the work to proceed. The master
should countersign any such permits.
Procedures for locking off at points of isolation and signing for, and the subsequent cancellation
of, permits and making live should be covered.
This chapter deals with the permit to work systems. During this part you will first review the
purpose of these systems, the types of work which they cover and the information that the permit
should contain. You will then learn what can go wrong with it.
As you will see, the information about hazards that forms such an important part of any permit to
work system comes from effective risk assessment.
Purpose, types of work and information

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What can go wrong
We will watch the following video in order to see a situation which can happen all to easily.
The 3rd engineer is checking the electric terminals of a pump. They are dead. Up in Control
Room the 2nd engineer switches of the isolation switch. The 3rd starts to work on the pumps
electrics. Now they are live and he is dead!
Permits to work bits of paper or matter of life and death?
As we saw, permits to work are not merely bits of paper they can make the difference between
life and death.
Let us begin by looking at some basic principles of permit-to-work systems.
If we go back to the accident you saw earlier, it gets pretty clear that what was needed here was a
permit-to-work system. There is just one problem: as you can see from the conversation between
the 3rd engineer and the chief.
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Still, the system has to work properly! Just because you have a permit-to-work system, it does
not mean that you are safe.
What can go wrong?
Human error
Rust (!)
Systems failure
So if there is a system in existence, what can go wrong with it? It could be one or more of three
different types of problem.
Firstly, there is human error. Permits are just pieces of paper. If people involved do not use them
properly, accidents will happen.
Then there is the system itself. If it is unclear or flawed in some way, accidents will happen.
Finally, rust! Just as ships begin to fall apart if they are not maintained, people can become
complacent and system can decay. Unless they are kept up to date, accidents will happen.
Lets look at each of these in turn.
Human error
Those who:
Authorize permits to work

Accept permits to work
As for the human error, there are two groups of people we have to consider those responsible
for authorizing and issuing permits to work. Then there are those at the receiving end who accept
the permits and carry out the work.
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Any individual responsible for authorizing permits to work must have some authority. These
systems can involve life-or-death decisions. The person making them will be the master or a
responsible officer according to the flag state requirements.
Knowledge and experience are important here since they must understand the work involved and
know what can go wrong.
The ability to as what if questions. The description of potential hazards is one of the most
important pieces of information on the permit.
Accepting individuals
Knowledge and experience

Understanding of the permit-to-work system
Do not overlook non-crew members!
Obviously those who are going to do the work must have appropriate knowledge and experience
to do it correctly and recognize the dangers.
In addition, they must understand how the permits-to-work system operates for example, the
need to display permits and sign off on the precautions they have taken.
Do not overlook non-crew members, such as shore gangs, or those who have just joined your
ship. Never assume that they know how your permit-to-work system operates.
System
Assessment
Authorization and acceptance
Preparation
The work itself
Completion and cancellation
A permit-to-work system consists of five distinct stages assessment, authorization and

acceptance, preparation, the work itself, completion and cancellation. To avoid danger and
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prevent accidents, each of these stages must be completed systematically and correctly, no matter
how urgent the job is or how much pressure those involved are under.
As for the assessment, it contains the following:
Duration of permit
Any other relevant permits
Job location
Description of the work
Description of potential hazards
Necessary precautions
Emergency actions
Protective equipment that is needed
As this list demonstrates, a large part of the information which the permit should contain consists
of a detailed assessment of the work and its associated hazards. In other words, it should be
based upon a thorough risk assessment.
Note other relevant permits. Sometimes a safe job can become lethal because of other work
that is going on in the vicinity.
In some situations, the permit should be supported by other documents for example, plans,
diagrams and written procedures.
Issuing a permit is a two-way process. It must be properly authorized by the officer responsible,
but that is only half of the process. The other half involves the person doing the work and
accepting it only if he or she is satisfied that it is in order. After all, he is the one who will be
placing himself in danger.
The officer authorising the permit and the individual accepting it both have copies of it.
Some examples of the preparation include:
Displaying permits
Locking off electric power supplies
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Displaying warning signs
Testing the atmosphere in enclosed spaces
Fencing off work areas
Assembling/testing protective clothing and emergency rescue / emergency equipment
Briefing others involved
Restricting access to specified individuals
Communication arrangements
Formal completion:
Review
Copies filed
Work area back to normal
Permit-to-work systems fail when work is poorly assessed, it is authorized and accepted without
sufficient thought and preparation is rushed and inadequate.
Only if these three stages are carried out correctly it will be safe to move on to the Stage 4 the
work itself.
Finally, once the work is completed, the permit must be formally completed.
It is good practice at this point to review how the job went. All copies of the permit must be filed
together so that they are available for reference if necessary. Of course, the work area must be
returned to normal by reversing safety precautions taken during the preparation stage.
Rust
Reasons for rust causing problems:
People become complacent. Because they have done the job 50 times before, they begin
to think that following the system is unnecessary or a waste of time.
Personnel changes. New people are not as experienced or do not understand your permit-
to-work system.
People forget. Safety training is not something that you do once and than never repeat.
We all need periodic reminders.
Equipment is modified and previous assessments become out of date.
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Equipment deteriorates and begins to pose increased or even new dangers.
People do not read the permit properly and have a tick-the-box attitude.
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When Something Goes Wrong
12. Accident Investigation
The principal purpose of accident investigation, reporting and analysis should be to minimize the
potential for a recurrence of such accidents. The cause or causes of all accidents or near
accidents should be investigated by the ships safety officer.
A full report of any incident should be made to the safety and health committee and, through the
master, to the appropriate persons ashore. Shipowners should report occupational accidents and
diseases to the competent authority.
Reports of accidents and near accidents should be discussed at safety and health committee
meetings on board ships and steps should be taken to minimize the possibility of recurrences.
The reports should also be discussed by shore management, and, if necessary, the shipowners
safety and health policy should be amended to take account of the conclusions of the
investigation.
This chapter deals with accident investigation. It covers the legal context and you will learn that
it is not just accidents that must be investigated other types of unsafe events are covered as
well. Most of the chapter deals with the investigation itself. You will identify the purposes of
accident investigation and learn the systematic process for carrying them out. You will learn
about the role which effective investigations can play in preventing similar situations in the
future.
Main points:
Legal context
Accidents
Investigation purpose and process
Prevention
Project file
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Legal context
ISM Code
Flag state and port state administrations
The master
The safety officer
Under the ISM Code, accident investigations must be carried out, analysed, reported and lead to
corrective action. Similar statutory requirements are laid down by a number of flag and port state
administration.
Under ISM, the master carries the overall responsibility for safety on board. Under most flag and
port state administration it is your statutory duty, as the safety officer, to carry out incident
investigation. However, whether you have a legal responsibility for doing this on your ship or
not, investigating on an accident will be an important part of your role and the master will rely
on the results you produce when making this report.
Accidents
For the sake of simplicity this section is called Accident Investigation and that is how we refer
to the subject throughout. But please be aware of two important points about the use of that word
accident
Firstly, we will concentrate on accidents involving occupational health and safety. Since these
are the most likely types of incident which, as the Safety Officer, you will be investigating. The
chapter does not deal with accidents involving damage to the ship or the environment.
Secondly, it is very important for you to recognize that accidents are not the only things which
are to be investigated.
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Investigation purpose and process
Accidents
Hazardous occurrences
Non-conformities
Though we are concentrating here on the investigation of accidents, be aware that under ISM
there is also a requirement to investigate hazardous occurrences which, through sheer luck, have
not caused an accident, and non-conformities situations in which the evidence shows that a
requirement specified under ISM is not being met.
Please briefly describe examples of hazardous occurances on your ship or other ship on which
you have served.
Process:
Evidence
Causes
Records
The purposes and process for investigating hazardous occurrences and non-conformities is
broadly the same as that for investigating accidents. Let us now look at this in detail.
We will begin by making sure that you are clear about the purposes of accident investigations,
because there is more than one. Then we will break the process down into three basic stages
collecting evidence, identifying causes and the production and use of records.
What would be the purposes of an accident investigation?
Please write down your answers and we will compare it with ours.
Purposes :
To find out what happened

To identify the causes of the accident
To meet the legal requirements
To indentify how to prevent similar accidents in future
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To warn others of potential dangers
Finding someone to blame is not one of the purposes of the investigation!
Evidence:
Observation
Interviews
Documents
So these are the purposes of an accident investigation and it is important to bear all of them in
mind as you go through the process. This begins with collecting evidence from different sources
observation at the site of the accident; interviews with those who saw the accident and others
who may have useful information; and any relevant documents, such as permits to work.
Here is a common accident that occurs aboard. Someone falls off a ladder and hurts his or her
leg. The first priority is, naturally, to help the injured person. Of course, you may have to get
involved in this, but if possible try not to. Your job as safety officer is to begin collecting
evidence as soon as you can after the accident took place.
Once the injured person has been moved to a safe place for treatment, you can begin a systematic
investigation at the site where the accident happened. Though the site must of course be made
safe, it is very important to disturb it as little as possible until you have collected all of the
relevant evidence. Make notes. Take measurements. Draw sketches. Take potographs. If you
have a video camera on board, use it. You must be able to describe precisely where everything
was when you come to.
Do not forget that you must identify any witnesses.
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What evidence?
Please list and write down on one page as many examples as you can by observing the site of the
accident.
We will compare your answers with ours.
Observation at the accident site
Details about the injured person

Position and state of the injured person (e.g. concious or not)
Names of crew members, whether witnesses or those in vicinity
Names and addresses of non-crew members, if any
Use and condition of any protective clothing or equipment
Any tools or materials (e.g. paint) that may have been in use, you may want to remove
portable items as evidence
Relevant site conditions (e.g. oily, damaged railings, obstructions)
Relevant measurements
Environmental conditions weather, temperature, visibility, etc.
Time of day
Interview
Who?
When?
How?
Once you have collected as much information as you can by observing the accident site, you
must next interview those who can help you understand what exactly happened. This naturally
includes anyone who saw the accident, but do not overlook others who may have useful
information. For example, perhaps someone heard the injured person say where he was going or
what he was about to do.
Try to interview witnesses as soon as possible. Memories fade fast and once people start talking
about an accident to each other it is often hard for them to tell the difference between what
actually did happen and what might have happened.
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How to interview?
Informal
Explain the purpose
Let the witness talk
Questions
Deciding who to interview and when to do is the easy part. Determining how to do it is much
more difficult.
First of all, try to make the interviews as informal as possible. When something unpleasant has
happened people can get nervous or defensive. They may think you are trying to find someone to
blame (them perhaps!). They may not want to get their injured friend into trouble. The more you
can put them at their ease, the better the information you will get from them.
This is why you should explain the purpose of the interview. Tell them you are trying to find out
what happened. You are not looking for someone to blame. You want to prevent similar
accidents happen in future. Then let the witness talk. How do you do that? Simply. You ask the
right sort of questions and then listen to what they have to say.
Questions
What for?
Facts
Opinions
Test your understanding
Different types
Leading
Open questions: what, why, how, who, where, when
Closed questions: yes or no
Conducting an interview is not actually that straightforward. Good interviewers think about the
kind of questions they ask and use them correctly. Here are the principles.
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First of all, what are questions for? Well, you can use them to get at the facts (e.g., Was it
raining?), or ask for opinions (e.g., Did he seem nervous?). Note that it is very important when
investigating accidents to be clear about whether you are asking for, or being given, facts or
opinions.
There is one other purpose. Any time when you are not sure about what was said, ask a question
to test your understanding (e.g., Are you saying no one showed him how to do the job?).
There are different types of questions, but remember not to direct answering to them because that
is how you suggest the answer that you want to hear (e.g., Wouldnt you agree that poor
visibility must have been a factor?) Do not pose such questions, they are for salesmen, not safety
officers.
Open questions, that is those that begin with what, why, how, who, where and when, usually get
witnesses to talk.
Closed questions, on the other hand, are designed to get one or the other of the two very short
answers yes or no.
It is very important to use open and closed questions in the right places. Here is an example.
First, the safety officer poses and open question.
As you can see, this gets the witness talk. The officer is listening without interrupting.
Then he asks a closed question in order to establish an important fact.
Do not confine yourself to one source of information. If at all possible, confirm what you learn
from one person by talking to another, as the safety officer does here when he is inteviewing the
injured rating.
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There is one other thing to add to the how to list. Namely, at the end of the interview you must
complete a witness statement. This is a formal, written summary of what you have been told.
You must agree with the witness that this is a correct description of his evidence and ask him to
sign it.
We saw by now that one collects evidence by observation and from interviews. There is one
more piece of evidence documents. Depending on circumstances of the accident you must
collect, for example, permits to work, procedures from the ships safety manual and relevant
standing orders.
The next step is to go somewhere quiet where you will not be interrupted and take a long, cool
look at the evidence you have collected. Do not jump to conclusions. Ask youself if anything is
missing. Are there incosistencies, for example the physical evidence does not support what the
witness have said? Do witnesses contradict one other? Is the evidence accurate? In other words,
does it all make sense? If the answer to that question is no, think about further investigation
that you could undertake?
Evidence:
Missing?
Inconsistencies?
Contradictions?
Accurate?
Make sense?
Further investigation?
Once you are satisfied that you have all the evidence you need, the next step is to identify the
causes. Remember that very often there will be more than one.
Here are the safety officer and the master putting togheter the report on the accident to the rating
who fell of the ladder. Listen to what they say.
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The master asks for the cause. The safety officer tells him it is the failure to lash the ladder. The
master than asks about the ladder itself and the safety officer tells him that it lacked anti-slip feet,
which would make it easier for the ladder to fall.
Here is a systematic method for identifying the cause of an accident.
First look for people involved. Was it their behaviour that caused the accident? Were they the
right people for the job? Were they qualified? Did they use the right methods?
Next think about the workplace, the equipment, including personal protective equipment, any
substances involved, and about the conditions at the site which (on board) will include the
weather and sea conditions.
Then think about what are often less obvious, underlying causes to do with organisation. Are
your polices and procedures correct and up to date?
Should the job have been better supervised? Was there a communication problem? Was the job
poorly planned? Was training adequate? Has the proper risk assessment been carried out?
Once you have all the evidence and have identified the causes, you should complete the final
step and put together the accidents records.
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What specific records of accidents and hazardous occurances will you keep on your ship?
Write some answers down on page and we will compare it with ours.
Here are they:
Details of accidents/hazardous occurrences etc.

Date
People involved
Nature of injuries suffered
All witnesses' statements
Any recommendations / representations
Any action taken
List of witnesses, addresses, positions and occupations
Whereabouts of original signed witness statements
Date accident/hazardous occurrence reports sent to Marine Accident Investigation Board,
if applicable
List of items collected, why and where stored
Records the masters report
Designated person
Head of department
Safety committees
Safety representatives
Most of the information in the list of required records will be in the masters report. These should
go to the designated person ashore, to the relevant head of department, to the safety committee
(though you may decide to present it verbaly at the meeting) and to the relevant safety
representatives if you have these on board of your ship.
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Finally... Prevention:
Trends
Action
Follow up
Never forget that after all the hard work of collecting evidence, identifying causes and producing
records and a report, the most important step is still to come prevention.
Look for trends. Is this just a one-time accident, or similar things have happened in the past?
These may not have been accidents, but remeber that only luck separates hazardous occurrences
from injuries and damage.
Decide what action is needed to eliminate or reduce the possibility of similar situations in the
future. Implement these actions and follow them up.
In this chapter about accident investigations we have covered the legal context and you have
learned that it is not just accidents which must be investigated other types of unsafe events are
also covered. For most of this section we have concentrated on the investigation itself. You have
identified the purposes of accidents investigation and learned a systematic process for carrying
them out. You have also learned about the role which effective investigations can play in
preventing similar situations in the future.
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13. Emergency Procedures I.
The sea can be a dangerous place. Even with modern ships and modern technology disasters can
still happen. Collision, fire and foundering can all lead to abandonment.
It is essential that everyone on board should be able to cope with emergencies quickly, efficiently
and correctly.
Emergency procedures 1
SOLAS chapter III

Muster lists
Training
Types
Timing and frequency
Drills
Types
Timing and frequency
In this chapter you will learn about the provision of SOLAS The International Convention for
the Safety at Sea and in particular the regulations covering muster lists, training and drills
which Chapter III of the conventions contains. You will review the emergency duties, described
on muster list, which officers and ratings must understand and be able to carry out. You will
learn about the types, timings and frequency of training required for crew members and also the
types, timing and frequencies of the required drills.
SOLAS 1974 as amended
The International Convention for the Safety at Sea (SOLAS) was first drawn up in 1914 after the
sinking of Titanic. It has been both amended and replaced by the new version ever since. The
most recent new version was adopted in 1974 and there have been a number of ammendments to
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this since then. That is why you will see it described in official documents as SOLAS 1974 as
amended.
The convention contains 10 Chapters covering, for example, ship construction, special types of
ship nuclear; high speed and so on and aspects of ship operations and equipment, such as
radio communications.
SOLAS Chapter III
Life saving appliances

LSA code
Life saving arrangements
Responsibilities
Training
Communication
Drills
Procedures
Chapter III covers two aspects of handling emergencies. The first is series of regulations about
life saving appliances and these are supported by a mandatory code of practice, the International
Life-Saving Appliance (LSA) Code. This contains technical specifications for all kinds of
emergency equipment from hand flares to freefall lifeboats.
Chapter III also covers the arrangements for managing emergency procedures on board
responsibilities, communication, procedures, training and drills and this is what we will
concentrate on in this part.
But there is also other information on board for handling emergencies.
Other information written about handling emergencies
Your ships Safety Manual

Muster List
Emergency Instructions
Emergency Procedures Manual
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The SOLAS Chapter III Training Manual
Lifeboat Manuals
Other emergency equipment instruction manual
First Aid manuals
Muster Lists
Contents
Alarm signals
What to do in an emergency
Abandon ship order
Crew members responsibility
Let us look in more detail at muster lists. They cover four main areas.
First, they give details of the general emergency alarm, other emergency alarm signals and the
public address system.
Second, they describe the action to be taken by the crew when the alarm is sounded.
Third, they explain how abandon-ship order will be given.
Finally, muster lists describe crew members responsibilities. Every crew member, both officers
and ratings, must have clearly defined duties in emergencies and there must be designated and
trained substitutes for key individuals, such as lifeboat coxswains, in case they are injured.
Active
Display
Preparation and update
Crew familiarization
If muster lists are treated like wall paper they will be worse than useless. They must play an
active role in the effective handling of emergencies.
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To enable them to do this, the convention says that they must be prominently displayed about the
ship, including on the bridge, in the engine room and the crew accommodation spaces; they must
be prepared and updated before sailing; and all crew members must check the muster list, again
before the ships sails.
Now let us examine crew members duties in emergencies in more detail.
Specific emergency duties which must be assigned to crew members:
Closing watertight doors, fire doors, valves, scuppers, side scuttles, skylights, portholes
and other similar openings in the ship
Equipping the survival craft and other life-saving appliances
Preparing and launching survival craft
General preparation of other life-saving appliances
Use of communication equipment
Manning fire parties assigned to deal with fires
Special duties assigned in respect of the use of fire-fighting equipment and installation.
So far in this chapter you look at what SOLAS Chapter III requires muster list to cover. They
must define crew members responsibilities in an emergency, explain the alarm signals and tell
those on board what to do when the alarm sounds. To make sure they play an active role in the
effective handling of emergencies they must be prominently displayed, they must be prepared
and updated before sailing and the crew must familiarise themselves with them again before the
ship sails.
Before we leave muster list to look at training and drills, there is another essential procedure
which SOLAS specifies and it is one which is likely to be particularly important to you in your
role as Safety Officer.
Let us see on this video what this officer is doing.
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He is carrying out regular inspection of the ships emergency equipment. As the safety Officer,
this task is likely to be your responsibility on your ship. There are three reasons for doing this.
First, it is the law. SOLAS says that the must list should specify which officers are assigned to
ensure that life-saving and fire appliances are maintained in good condition and are easy for
immediate use. You must hold and record inspections at least once a month.
Second, it is unfortunately a fact that people sometimes get hurt during drills. This is much less
likely to happen if your equipment is in perfect working order.
Training
New crew members and ongoing training

STCW
Instruction type
Fire fighting
Survival at sea
Life saving
Instruction
Frequency
Coverage
The regulations cover the training which you must provide both for those individuals joining the
ship and ongoing training for the entire crew.
SOLAS requires those crew members joining a ship for the first time to receive training in the
use of the ships life-saving and fire-extinguishing equipment not later than two weeks after they
join.
Sefarers basic training deals in detail with the STCW Code and you will find that this training
is covered in more depth in the chapter on Shipboard Familiarisation.
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In addition to the basic training, all crew members must receive regular instructions in fire
fighting, life saving and survival at sea at the same intervals as drills, that is at least once a
month.
Though you are not expected to cover every single fire fighting and life saving appliance on
board at each instruction session, the regulations say that you must organize your training
programme so that they are all covered within any two months period.
Drills: purpose and types
Procedures into practice

Abandon ship
Fire
The purpose of a drill is to demonstrate that the crew can put the emergency procedures in wich
they have been trained into practice.
The two specific types of drill which are mandatory under the SOLAS Convention are the
following: abandon ship and fire.
The activities which SOLAS says must form part of an abandon ship drill
Summoning crew to Muster Stations/Assembly Points with the alarm followed by a drill
announcement on the public address or other communication system.
Ensuring that they are made aware of how the order to abandon ship will be given.
Reporting to stations and preparing for the duties described in the muster list.
Checking that crew members are suitably dressed.
Checking that lifejackets are correctly worn.
Lowering at least one lifeboat after any necessary preparation for launching.
Starting and operating the lifeboat engine.
Operating davits used for launching life rafts.
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Instruction in the use of radio life-saving appliances.
The activities which SOLAS says must form part of a fire drill
Reporting to stations and preparing for the duties described in the muster list.
Starting a fire pump, using at least the two required jets of water to show that the system
is in proper working order.
Checking firemens outfits and other personal rescue equipment.
Checking relevant communication equipment.
Checking the operation of water tights doors, fire doors, fire dampers and main inlets and
outlets of ventilation system in the drill area.
Checking the necessary arrangements for subsequent abandon of the ship.
Drills: timing and frequency
24hour / 25% rule

New crew / new ship rule
Once a month rule
Unless your administration agrees to accept other equivalent arrangements, you must hold fire
drill and abandon drill within 24 hours of sailing if more than 25% of the crew have not taken
part in these drills on this ship.
If the crew is new, or if the ship is new or has been substantially modified, you must hold these
drills before sailing.
On all ships you must hold fire and abandon ship drill at least once a month.
Please note that this is the SOLAS requirement. Your flag state may require more frequent drills.
Other types of drill which you might hold on your ship
Rescue of trapped and/or injured personnel

Collision
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Grounding
Enclosed spaces
Problems with dangerous goods as cargo
Excessive list
Emergency steering
Man overboard
Towing
In this chapter you have learned about the provision of SOLAS The International Convention
for the Safety of Life at Sea and in particular the regulations covering muster list, training and
drills which Chapter III of the Convention contains.
You have reviewed the emergency duties, described on muster list, which officers and ratings
must understand and be able to carry out. You have learned about the types, timing and
frequency of training required for crew members and also the types, timing and frequencies of
required drills.
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14. Emergency Procedures II.
The chapter Emergency Procedures 1 covered the regulations in SOLAS Chapter III about
muster list, training and drills. It explained what does the muster list must contain and issues
such as the timing and frequency of drills. If your ship carries passengers it also covers
emergency instructions, practice muster and breifing.
This part is about how to run a drill. There is a close relationship between drills and the training
which seafarers must receive to enable them to carry out drills correctly.
Drills
Drills and training

Preparation
During the drill
De-briefing
A programme of drills
Of course it is not enough just to hold drills. They must be done correctly and that is what this
chapter is about. You are going to learn about the relationship between training and drills, how to
prepare drills, how to observe when a drill is in progress and, once it is over, how to de-brief
those who have taken part.
Here is the first difference between drills and training for emergencies. The purpose of training is
to help crew members learn how to handle an emergency, whereas the purpose of drills is to
check weather they can do it correctly. Drills are a bit like the exam at the end of a school term!
Other differences between training for emergencies and drills:
Training sessions are run by ships officer whereas drills are sometimes run by port
state control inspectors.
The person running a training session act as a trainer, helping those taking part to
learn, whereas the person running a drill sets the scene an then acts as an observer,
assessing whether those taking part can cope effectively with the emergency.
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Trainers provide help, encouragement and advice during the training session whereas
observers intervene only if there is danger threatening to those taking part.
In a training session you are often asked to do things slowly, so that you get them
right; the trainer may take the activity stage by stage, sometimes stopping at the end
of a stage to discuss what has happened before going on to the next one, whereas in a
drill you are expected to handle the simulated emergency without interruption and at
the same pace as if it were real.
If a training session goes badly, you learn from your mistakes and do it better next
time whereas if a drill goes badly in front of a PSC Inspector, the ship may be
detained.
This is an officer inspecting the emergency equipment to make sure it is working properly. What
he is doing here is very important. Never run training for emergencies or drills without first
making sure the equipment is safe.
There is another good reason for maintaining emergency equipment properly. You will see in the
following video what the two US Coast Guard officers have to say about their experiences as
port state control inspectors.
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So if the equipment does not work your ship can fail an ispection and may even end up being
detained.
Assuming that all of your emergency equipment is in working order, let us look at how to run a
drill. There are four stages. Firstly, there is preparation. Good drills are always well planned.
Then briefing those those who will be taking part. Then there is observing the drill itself. Finally,
you should de-brief to discuss how did it go.
Preparation
Type
Fire and abandon ship
Other (enclosed space rescue, etc.)
Date and time
Who
Review previous drill
Location fire drills
The obvious starting point is to decide what type of a drill this will be. Fire and abandon ship
drills are mandatory. There are others, such as rescue from an enclosed space, which you will
want to run as well. You may be able to combine these with fire drills, though remember that
certain administration does not allow you to do this.
Next, decide when to run and who will take part. Make sure that all crew members have
opportunities to take part in drills.
It is very important to review your notes from the previous drill of this type. As well as
identifying any improvements you will want to see this time around, do not overlook what went
well. It is important to build on strengths as well as tackling weaknesses.
Then there is location. Real fires do not always start in the same place and drills must take this
into account.
Possible different locations for holding fire drills include the following:
Accomodation
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Cargo spaces
Paint lockers
Galley
Various engine room locations
Electrical switchboard
When you are preparing a drill you must also decide how to make it as realistic as possible.
You will see in the video what the US Coast Guard officers have to say about this.
Note comments from previous video: drills should be realistic, but they must be pitched at the
level of difficulty appropriate to those taking part. Do not set people to fail. You must also be
sure that the drill is safe. There are limits in adding realism. You cannot set the ship on fire!
Make sure everyone is involved, including those who are not busy at a particular point in the
drill.
The example in the video clip involved holding the drill at night. But varying the timing is not
the only way of making drills look more like real emergencies.
Other ways of adding variety and realism to drills
Leadership. If, for example, you are planning an enclosed space rescue drill, who will
lead the team? Should you pull the leader out in the middle of the drill to assess how the
rest of team react?
Equipment use. Crew members must demonstrate that they can use the ships safety
equipment. You may not be able to cover the decks in foam every time you hold a fire
drill, but do not wait for a real emergency to find out whether the fire crews can use this
type of equipment.
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Information. Decide what information you are going to give those taking part and also
when you will give it to them. In real emergencies situations can change from moment to
moment and those tackling them must be able to adapt when they receive new
information.
Access/visibility. One obvious method for adding realism to a drill is to deny access to
the normal routes around the ship. In a fire drill you may also whish to restrict visibility
of those taking part by using masks or smoke machines. Note: doing this has obvious
implications for safety and some companies do not permit the use of smoke machines
aboard of their ships.
This is why preparing an effective drill involves deciding what type it will be, when you intend
to hold it, who will be involved, the lessons you want to carry forward from previous drill, where
it will be held and how you will add realism and variety.
There is one other issue how much warning you will give those taking part. Giving no warning
at all creates the maximum realism, but often has unacceptable safety implications. It also
severely limits the amount of prior briefing you can provide.
Briefing
Purpose
Previous drill
What went well
Improvements needed
Safety
Potential hazards and precautions
Stop command
Once you have done the preparation, the next stage is briefing those who will be taking part. The
amount of detail you give them will depend on the decision you have taken about the level of
realism, but there are three particular issues which you should cover.
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Firstly, the purpose of the drill. It is important to stress this no matter how experienced the group
is, since it focuses everyones attention on what they are trying to achieve and the standards
which you expect them to display.
Second, lessons from the previous drill. Encourage them to build on their strenghts by reminding
them of what went well. Highlight the improvements which are needed.
Finally, safety. Stress the potential danger involved in the drill and the saftey precautions you
expect them to take. Make sure everyone understands the command they will receive if, for any
reason, the drill has to be stopped before it is complete.
Observation
Scores
Notes
What is going well
Improvements
Timescale
The start
Start preparing the drill and briefing those taking part. The next step is to observe the drill itself.
So how should you do this and what should you observe?
For features which are more difficult to measure such as teamwork use scores from 1 to 10 in
order to help you turn your subjective impressions into firm judgements.
Make brief notes of what is going well, not just improvements needed.
Record how long does the drill take. In real emergencies the speed is often makes the difference
between success and disaster.
Pay particular attention to the start. What happens in the first few minutes of a real emergency is
often crucial. The leader must take control, the team must pay attention and the necessary action
has to begin without delay.
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Features to observe during the drill
Teamwork. Do crew members work together smoothly or do they look like a group of
uncoordinated individuals? Look for examples of people helping one another wihout
being asked to.
Team flexibility. Is there evidence theat the team members are able to do more than one
job? If you have pulled key individuals out of the team, how well are others coping?
Communication. Do those taking part give information and istructions clearly and
calmly? Do they listen to one another? Do they watch what is going on around them and
react appropriately?
Reaction to the unexpected. How well do they adapt to unforseen circumstances, such
as finding that normal routes about the ship are blocked?
Use of equipment. Do team members use the necessary equipment quickly and
correctly? Are they using safe and proper techniques? Does the equipment function
correctly?
Observation
Scores
Notes
Timescale
The start
During the drill
The end
The leader
Objective
So, you will grade features of the drill, make notes, record how long does it take and pay
attention to both the start and particular aspects of what happens during the drill.
Note also what the leader does at the end of the drill. Does he pull the team together and give
prise and encouragement? Drills are an ideal opportunity to do some teambuilding.
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Finally, decide how well the drill met its goals. The most important indicator of successful
teamwork is success!
De-briefing
Prepare
Get the sequence right
Them before you
Positive sides before negative ones
Stay positive and honest
Be descriptive
Be constructive
Bear in mind and remind everyone else: the next time it might happen for real!
Once the drill is over, it is very important to pull together the lessons with those who have taken
part. In order to do this the right way, make sure that you do the following.
1. Prepare. Decide on the most important points you want to make. Do not give too
much feedback. Three points are better than thirty.
2. Get the sequence right. Find out how those taking part thought about it before
telling them what you think. Ask about it and give your views on what went well
before focusing on improvements.
3. Be positive. If you stress what went well it will be easier for you to be honest
about what did not work.
4. Be descriptive. Do not say youre a careless bunch when what you mean is
The individual wearing the breathing apparatus did not pull it on properly and
the team leader did not check him before he entered the hold.
5. Be constructive, make sure everyone goes away from the de-briefing feeling
positive about it. Even if it did not go well, they must at least know what to do
next time to make it better.
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Program of drills
Statutory requirements
Relevance to the ship
So far in this chapter we have concentrated on how to run an individual drill. However, during a
typical voyage you will carry out a complete program of drills to ensure that you meet the
statutory requirements of SOLAS and also that you cover all the emergencies that your particular
ship might encounter. Often this program will be set out by your shore based management team.
The features of an effective programe of drills
All crew members are covered. All those who may be involved in a particular type of real
emergency should receive training and have their ability assessed by taking part in drills.
This naturally includes relief crews.
Varied drill scenarios. Not only abandon ship and fire drills but others such as rescue
from enclosed spaces, man overboard, emergency steering and so on.
Varied drill locations. The obvious as well as less obvious places.
Varied drill difficulty. It is important for unexperienced crew members to show that they
can handle basic situations before adding difficulties for them to tackle.
Varied situations. To prevent the crew becoming complacent, a programme should vary
the timing, the amount of warning given, the unforseen circumstances created and so on.
As you saw, this section of the course showed you how to run effective drills. You have learned
about the relationship between training and drills, how to prepare a drill, what to observe when a
drill is in progress and, once it is over, how to de-brief those who have taken part.
You have also identified the features of an effective program of drills, such as the ones you
might carry out over the period of a voyage.
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15. Safety on Board & Advice to Safety Officers
15.1. Safety on Board
Safety on board tankers cannot be imposed by management. The owner's loss control manager
can issue the world's finest safety policies and procedures, but they will have no effect if the
master, officers and crew do not adopt the practices as part of their work routines. The master,
officers and crew must be absolutely convinced of the owner's sincerity regarding the safety
program. The owner should visit his vessels, to personally impress on the master and officers the
importance of the loss control program.
Following that introduction, the performance of the ship should be carefully monitored to ensure
that safety is not being compromised for the saving of time or expense, and that the owner's
safety education/instruction program is being conducted and its lessons implemented in the daily
work of the ship.
Tanker safety concerns
The owner's safety program should be designed to address all of the significant occupational
risks to which the crew may be exposed. These include:
Explosion or fire hazards associated with the vessel's fuel.

Explosion or fire hazards associated with the vessel's cargo.
Toxic hazards of chemicals used on board.
Toxic hazards of the vessel's cargoes.
Rolling and pitching of the ship in heavy weather.
Operation of machinery, in normal conditions and in heavy weather.
Ice and freezing weather.
Exposure while working aloft, over the side, or in confined spaces.
Unsafe work practices and neglect of personal protective equipment.
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It is the job of management to (initially), identify the principal areas of concern, and to put in
place the necessary procedures and equipment to minimise the risks. It is the job of the master,
officers and crew to diligently implement the safety procedures and to recommend changes or
improvements in the safety programme to management.
The mere posting of notices and provision of safety information is insufficient to protect the
owner from liability and is not particularly effective in getting the information into the heads of
the crew. A formal, periodic training program should also be in place, including maintenance of
training records. Individual crew members must sign their training records at the completion of
each unit of training. One method of promoting crew attention and interest is to make clear that
failure to comply with the company safety requirements could affect the outcome of their claim
for compensation in the event of an accident.
Safety committee
Implementation and improvement of the safety program will be most effective if an autonomous
safety committee or safety discussion team is formed, with authority to report directly to the loss
control manager ashore. The functions of the on-board safety committee/ team are to:
Prevent accidents or injuries to the crew and vessel.

Improve safety conditions on board.
Implement and enforce safety procedures on board.
Investigate and report on accidents or incidents with the objectives of determining cause
(not fault!) and preventing recurrence.
Review and offer recommendations for changes to safety checklists.
The safety committee should participate in the scheduling of training, exercises and drills and
discussions of the results of drills should be part of their reports to management. Drills should be
conducted.
The safety committee should ensure that all safety instructions, booklets and literature provided
by management are prominently displayed on board and readily accessible to the crew.
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Fire prevention
The chief danger to any ship is fire. On a tanker, there are more opportunities for fire due to the
nature of the cargo, but the potential for engine room and accommodation fires is no greater than
on any other ship type. Many tanker losses begin with a fire in the machinery spaces. To
minimize the opportunity for machinery space fires, the following routine practices should be
maintained:
Immediate clean up of any oil leakage and repair of the cause of the leak. This is
particularly important if the leak is near any hot surface or source of ignition.
Waste oil must not be allowed to accumulate in the engine or pump room bilges.
Frequent verification of proper function of remote controls and remote indicators.
Regular tests of vent dampers and closures to ensure that the air supply can be stopped in
event of fire.
Regular inspections of unmanned machinery spaces.
Persons alone in machinery spaces must regularly communicate with the ECR
watchstander or the bridge watch.
Boilers must be operated in accordance with manufacturers recommendations.
Wood or fibreboard packing cases, paint, or tins of oil should not be stored in boiler flats,
machinery spaces, pump room, or in the steering engine room.
Smoking regulations and places must be established by the master and strictly enforced.
Personal electrical equipment must be inspected and approved by the chief engineer
before being used on board.
All portable electrical appliances must be disconnected or well secured before the vessel
departs port.
Explosion hazards
The basis for preventing explosions is the rigorous separation of sources of vapor from sources
of ignition. Explosions occur when both of these means of prevention fail. Accidental or
negligent uncontrolled release of hydrocarbons anywhere on a tanker can lead to introduction of
their insidious vapor into any space. Following such an incident, the only protection against an
explosion is the correct condition of the intrinsically safe and explosion-proof electrical
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equipment. For this reason, electrical wiring and equipment should be frequently inspected and
any defective equipment disconnected at the source until it can be repaired. Exterior doors to the
accommodation and machinery space must be kept closed at all times when not immediately in
use.
Sparks or heat sufficient to ignite an explosive vapor can also be caused by:
Defective electrical tools.

Tools being knocked together or dropped onto a steel surface.
Electrical motors and other equipment.
Spontaneous heating of oily rags or waste.
Aluminum or one of its alloys knocked against rusted steel.
Falling of anodes in cargo tanks.
Discharge of an accumulation of static electricity.
None approved electrical appliances carried onto the main deck, such as photographic
equipment, portable amplifiers, or portable radios.
Hot work permits must be prepared and approved for all welding, flame cutting, or hot work on
board, whether in the machinery space or elsewhere. All requirements of the approved hot work
permit must be observed, including proper fire watch, periodic testing of the space atmosphere
for hydrocarbon vapours and regular inspection by the chief engineer or other qualified officer.
Work permits should be valid for a maximum of 12 hours. The work permit must refer to an
appropriate safety checklist to be completed prior to the commencement of hot work.
Crew members should be made aware of the possibility of accumulation of hydrogen in
cathodically protected ballast tanks. The hydrogen will accumulate in the upper section of the
tank and present an immediate explosion hazard when the tank is opened. Precautions regarding
ignition sources must be as strictly observed when opening and entering ballast tanks as well as
when entering cargo tanks.
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Toxic hazards on board
The purchase requisitions for all chemicals, cleaners and paints ordered for/by the ship must
include provision by the vendor of several copies of the appropriate 'material safety data sheet'
for the product. The data sheet must include a description of the hazards of the product and the
antidote or treatment required for personnel exposure. If the antidote or treatment is not normally
carried on board, it must also be made part of the order. Copies of the data sheet should be
placed in the medical office, in the space where the material is stored and at the work station
where it is normally used.
The ship must be provided with appropriate organic respirators, dust masks, goggles, face masks,
disposable coveralls, and protective gloves so that crew members can safely handle and work
with the chemicals on board. Officers must ensure that the protective equipment is used where
appropriate. Hand cleaner and neutralizer must be readily available to remove any accidental
contact with the chemicals.
Spray painting can expose crew members to a number of hazards. Airless spray equipment ejects
the paint at a very high pressure, sufficient to penetrate skin or cause severe eye injury. A
suitable respirator must be worn. In some cases it may be necessary to use breathing apparatus.
Likewise, respirators or breathing apparatus may be required for welding or flame cutting in
confined spaces.
The crew in general and the steward's department personnel in particular, should be educated
regarding the danger of mixing different chemicals and the combinations of chemicals which are
particularly dangerous.
Toxic hazards of cargo
No cargo should be loaded into a tanker unless the vessel has been provided with a material
safety data sheet beforehand. If the cargo has not been previously carried, or if the ship has a
number of new crew members, each watch officer should read through the data sheet with his
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watch to ensure that they fully understand the hazards and precautions for the cargo and the
actions to be taken in the event of exposure.
The crew should be aware that petroleum poisoning may occur orally, by inhalation, or by skin
contact. The particular hazards of sour crudes (H2S) and the benzene/toluene type cargoes must
be stressed to the crew each time those cargoes are carried. Adequate personal protection must be
provided for crew while cleaning leaded gasoline tanks.
The area of greatest danger during routine operations is the pump room. Pump room ventilation
must always be in operating while handling cargo in port or while tank washing at sea.
Work practices on board
Each vessel must have a manual of standard safe work practices, particularly the preparations,
precautions and procedures to be used when:
Vessel is rolling or pitching in rough weather.

Working aloft while underway at sea.
Work overboard in port.
Entering confined spaces; the hazards of confined spaces must be recognised as applying
not only to cargo tanks but to all spaces in the ship where oxygen deficiency may occur.
Individual crew safe work practices include:

Wear suitable, close fitting clothing; synthetic fibres should be avoided in preference to
heavy-duty cotton coveralls.
Long hair must be restrained and kept under a cap or hardhat.
All jewellery and watches should be removed while working on deck or with machinery.
Wear hearing protection in all high-noise areas.
Wear a hardhat on deck, in tanks, or when others are working above.
Leather footgear with protective toes and non-slip soles must be worn while working.
Wear the proper industrial gloves for the chemical being used or work being performed.
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Wear protective goggles or shields for grinding, chipping, welding, or using compressed
air.
Check and obey all safety placards and notices.
Clean skin immediately of any exposure to harmful substances.
Report careless or reckless behaviour or work by any shipmate to the supervising officer.
Report defective or damaged equipment.
Safety harnesses must be worn and properly secured or tended while working aloft.
Personal flotation must be worn while working over the side of the vessel.
Accidents
Following any accident, the master must:
Ensure the safety of injured personnel.

Take action to minimise additional damage to the ship and to contain any existing
damage.
As soon as practicable, gather evidence, photographs and statements necessary for the
accident report.
Obtain necessary medical assistance from shore stations or by nearby vessels through the
AMVER system.
Complete the necessary official notifications and reports.
Vessel managers should provide the master with a checklist of actions to be taken in
response to typical accidents.
Firefighting and abandoning ship
Detailed procedures for firefighting are beyond the scope of this book. However, it should be
noted that successful firefighting efforts cannot be attempted unless the crew has been
thoroughly trained in the use of their equipment and the strategies and tactics of team
firefighting. Frequent and diligent training will provide the ship with fire teams who are capable
of extinguishing all but the largest fires. Since a fire may occur under conditions where it is
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dangerous or fatal to abandon the ship, each crew member should appreciate that his life may
depend on his individual contribution to the firefighting effort. In any marine accident, the vessel
should not be abandoned hastily. Vessels often remain afloat long after their crews have been
killed or injured while abandoning the deck or died from exposure in the boats. The master or
chief officer must take the time to evaluate the stability condition of the vessel. Only when all
efforts to save the ship are obviously futile should an organized, calm abandonment take place. If
at all possible, the vessel should not be abandoned until a positive means of rescue is at hand.
It is incumbent on all owners to provide each crew member with an appropriate survival suit,
regardless of the absence of any regulatory requirement.
15.2. Advice to safety officer
The Safety Officer is required by the Regulations to try to ensure compliance with the provisions of
this Code and of the employer's occupational health and safety policy; and to investigate notifiable
accidents to persons on board ship or during access, as well as every dangerous occurrence and all
potential hazards to occupational health and safety, and to make recommendations to the Master. He
also has other specific statutory duties which are listed in paragraphs below.
The Safety Officer is required to investigate all complaints by crew members about occupational
health and safety unless he has reason to believe that a complaint is of a frivolous or vexatious
nature.
The Regulations require him to carry out occupational health and safety inspections of each
accessible part of the ship at least once every three months, or more frequently if there have been
substantial changes in the conditions of work. For guidance on this duty see paragraph "Advice to
Safety Officer".
He also has to make representations and, where appropriate, recommendations to the master and
through him to the employer about any deficiency in the ship in respect of legislative requirements
relating to occupational health and safety, relevant Merchant Shipping Notices and the provisions of
this Code.
The Safety Officer is required to ensure that safety instructions, rules and guidance are complied
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with. These include the requirements and guidance referred to in the previous paragraph.
He is required to maintain a record book describing all the circumstances and detail of all accidents
and dangerous occurrences.
The Safety Officer is also required to stop any work which he reasonably believes may cause a
serious accident and immediately to inform the master (or his deputy) who is responsible for deciding
when work can safely be resumed.
Finally, he has a duty to carry out any occupational health or safety investigations or inspections
required by the safety committee.
However the Safety Officer is not required by these regulations to take any of the actions described
in previous paragraphs at a time when emergency action to safeguard life or the ship is being taken.
In carrying out the statutory duties described in previous paragraphs the Safety Officer should be on
the lookout for any potential hazards and the means of preventing accidents. He should try to develop
and sustain a high level of safety consciousness among the crew so that individuals work and react
instinctively in a safe manner and have full regard to the safety not only of themselves but also of
others. He should aim to become the ship's adviser on occupational safety to whom the master,
officers and ratings alike will naturally turn for advice or help on safe working procedures aboard
ship.
Example is of prime importance and must be set from the top. If a Safety Officer feels that a ship's
officer is not setting a good example a direct approach to that officer suggesting that he mend his
ways is often the best course of action, if this fails or is not considered to be appropriate then the
Safety Officer might use the safety committee to raise occupational safety as a general topic using
examples of dangerous or unsafe practices in the area of the officer concerned. As a last resort the
Safety Officer might consider an approach to the master to use his influence with the officer
concerned.
It is essential that everyone joining the ship understands the safety regime from the start. Although
the employer should have provided each new employee with a copy of the company's safety policy,
the Safety Officer should satisfy himself that each new entrant is informed as soon as possible after
he boards, either by his supervisor or by the Safety Officer, of the occupational safety arrangements
and the importance attached to them. The induction should include an introduction to the various
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departments of the ship in company with the Safety Officer or other responsible person, during which
particular hazards could be pointed out. Finally, the Safety Officer should ensure that a responsible
officer or Petty Officer has, wherever possible, made arrangements for a young new entrant to work
with a crew member who is himself thoroughly safety conscious and preferably willing to teach
safety at the same time as he displays it. Every effort should be made to see that a new entrant does
not work with a person whose attitude to safety is casual or slap-dash. Older hands coming on board
for the first time should be reminded of the need to maintain a high level of safety consciousness and
of the importance of setting a good example to the less experienced crew member.
The Safety Officer is required to inspect each accessible part of the ship at least every three months,
or more frequently if there have been substantial changes in the conditions of work. The regulations
do not define what is meant by 'accessible' or 'substantial changes in the conditions of work'.
However, for practical purposes 'accessible' should be taken as meaning all those parts of the ship to
which any member of the crew has access without prior authority. Deciding whether 'substantial
changes in the conditions of work have taken place is a matter of judgment. Changes are not limited
to physical matters such as new machinery but can also include changes in working practices or the
presence of possible new hazards. The Safety Officer is required to keep a record of all inspections.
The regulations do not require the Safety Officer to carry out a complete inspection of the ship at one
time, only that he inspects each accessible part of the ship every 3 months. Sometimes an inspection
of the whole ship at one time would take far too long, and could result in a lack of thoroughness and
neglect of his other duties. It is also much easier to get quick and effective action on
recommendations arising out of an inspection of one section than of the whole ship. When inspecting
a section for which an officer or Petty Officer is responsible the Safety Officer should be
accompanied by that Officer.
Before an inspection, the safety officer should read the previous reports of inspections of the
particular section, the recommendations made and the subsequent action taken. He should note any
recurring problems and, in particular, recommendations for action which have not been put into
effect. It is important, however, that the safety officer should not allow previous inspections to
prejudice a forthcoming inspection.
It is not possible to give a definite checklist of everything to look for but safe access, the environment
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and working conditions are major items.
The following are examples of questions the Safety Officer should consider in respect of access and
safe movement:
Are means of access, if any, to the area under inspection (particularly ladders and stairs), in a
safe condition, well lit and unobstructed?
If any means of access is in a dangerous condition, for instance when a ladder has been
removed, is the danger suitably blocked off and warning notices posted?
Is access through the area under inspection both for transit and working purposes clearly
marked, well lit, unobstructed and safe?
Are fixtures and fittings over which seamen might trip or which project, particularly
overhead, thereby causing potential hazards, suitably painted or marked?
Is any gear, which has to be stowed within the area, suitably secured?
Are all guard-rails in place, secure and in good condition?
Are all openings through which a person could fall, suitably fenced?
If portable ladders are in use, are they properly secured and at a safe angle?
The following questions are examples related to the environment:

Is the area safe to enter?
Are lighting levels adequate?
Is the area clear of rubbish, combustible material, spilled oil, etc.?
Is ventilation adequate?
Are members of the crew adequately protected from exposure to noise when necessary?
Are dangerous goods or substances left unnecessarily in the area or stored in a dangerous
manner?
Are loose tools, stores or similar items left lying around unnecessarily?
On working conditions the following examples may be appropriate: - Is machinery adequately

guarded where necessary?
Are any necessary safe operating instructions clearly displayed?
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Are any necessary safety signs clearly displayed?
Are permits-to-work used when necessary?
Are crew working in the area wearing any necessary protective clothing and equipment?
Is that protective clothing and equipment in good condition and being correctly used?
Is there any evidence of defective plant or equipment and if so what is being done about it?
Is the level of supervision adequate, particularly for inexperienced crew?
What practicable occupational safety improvements could be made?
Finally here are some other matters the Officer will find relevant:
Are all statutory regulations and company safety procedures being complied with?
Is the safety advice in publications such as this Code, Merchant Shipping Notices etc. being
followed where possible?
Have the crew in the area any safety suggestions to make?
Have any faults identified in previous inspections been rectified?
The Safety Officer's role should be a positive one in that he should seek to initiate or develop safety
measures before an accident occurs rather than afterwards. In addition to the specific statutory duties
he should advise the master on all matters of safe working practice and assist him in the elimination
of accidents and injuries on board ship. For example he should provide a channel by which
suggestions for improving safety may be transmitted from seagoing personnel to management.
In carrying out the functions referred to above, the Safety Officer should, with the approval of or at
the direction of the master:
(a) Arrange the distribution of booklets, leaflets and similar advisory and informative
material concerning safety matters;
(b) Supervise the display of posters and notices and their replacement or renewal in due time;
(c) arrange for the showing of films of safety publicity and, where appropriate, organize
subsequent discussions on the subjects depicted;
(d) Encourage members of the crew to submit ideas and suggestions for improving safety and
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enlist their support for any proposed safety measures which may affect them (the person
making a suggestion should always be informed of decisions reached and any action taken);
(e) Consider any other ways of creating and maintaining interest in improving safety;
(f) Receive and draw attention as appropriate to relevant shipping legislation, Merchant
Shipping Notices and company and ship's rules and instructions relating to safety of work
about the ship. Special regard should be had for persons new on the ship and their attention
should always be drawn to any special hazards on the ship.
It is very important that the Safety Officer maintains a good relationship with safety representatives
and works in close liaison with them. A good Safety Officer will automatically invite the safety
representative to join him in inspecting part of the ship or investigating an accident. He will,
whenever possible, consult the safety representative and draw him into discussions about
occupational safety matters and arrangements. The safety representative should be able to consult the
Safety Officer with the minimum of delay and to expect a considered and reasoned response to any
representations. The Safety Officer should associate the safety representative with any follow-up
action he may take on the basis of the safety representative's recommendations.
The Safety Officer's relationship with the safety committee is rather different since he is both a
member of the committee and also to some extent subject to its direction. A committee has the right
to inspect any of the records which a safety officer is required by law to keep, and has the power to
require the Safety Officer to carry out any occupational health or safety inspections considered
necessary. The Safety Officer should not, generally, be appointed secretary to the safety committee
as he needs to concentrate upon the discussion and advise the master.
The Safety Officer, but not the safety representative, has the power to stop any work, which he
believes may cause a serious accident. He must immediately report the stoppage to the Master or his
deputy who then has the responsibility for deciding if and when the work should recommence and on
what conditions. The Safety Officer may not stop emergency action to safeguard life even though
that action may itself involve a risk to life.
One of the specific duties laid upon Safety Officers is to make representations to the master and
through him to the employer about deficiencies on the ship in respect of any legislative requirement
relating to occupational safety or health. In order to fulfill this function properly the Safety Officer
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must be fully conversant with the appropriate regulations. The introduction of new regulations or of
amendments to existing regulations will be announced in Merchant Shipping Notices.
A Safety Officer should not be deterred by the possibility of liability for damages in civil cases
arising out of injuries suffered as a result of accidents. The duties placed upon him are limited. If a
Safety Officer had carried out the required inspections in a reasonable manner and had reported any
revealed breaches of occupational safety provisions to the master, and through him to the employer,
the Safety Officer's legal responsibility in regard to any such breaches would be extinguished. The
onus for compliance with the statutory provisions would remain with the person on whom the
obligation to comply is placed in the relevant statutory instrument.
Advice to Safety Representatives
Unlike the Safety Officer, the safety representative has powers not duties, although membership of
the safety committee imposes certain obligations. In other words, he has the power to do certain
things if he so wishes but he need not do them unless he does so wish. He has the right either to
participate in normal investigations and inspections made by the safety officer or to undertake
similar activities himself. He is also entitled to request, through the safety committee, that the Safety
Officer undertakes an investigation and he is entitled to inspect any of the records the Safety Officer
is required to keep under the regulations.
The safety representative should be fully conversant with all the occupational safety regulations
listed in this code and in the relevant Merchant Shipping Notice.
The effectiveness of the safety representative will depend to a large extent upon the relationship
which develops between himself and the employer, the Master and Safety Officer. A cooperative
spirit is essential, and a good safety representative will try to assist and, where necessary, give
encouragement to the Safety Officer in his duties. He will not try to supplant the Safety Officer. He
will, however, endeavour to encourage those he represents to become more safety conscious in their
various shipboard tasks.
The safety representative should always put forward his views and recommendations in a firm but
reasonable and helpful manner. He should be sure of the facts, and be aware of the legal position and
of what is practicable. He should request to be kept informed of actions stemming from his
recommendations, or the reasons why action was not possible.
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If the safety representative should find himself in a situation where his efforts are obstructed, or he is
denied facilities, then he should bring the matter to the attention of the Safety Officer or to the master
through the safety committee.
It should be the aim to settle any contentious issue on board ship or thereafter with the employer.
Advice to Safety Committees
The safety committee is the forum on board ship in which the master and the appointed and elected
safety officials and others meet to discuss matters relating to occupational safety. Its effectiveness
will depend upon the willingness of its members, in particular the master, to give the necessary time
and interest to its meetings. In a sense it is the most important element in the occupational safety
organization on board since its membership contains all the safety officials. With the master as its
chairman, the committee has the means to take effective action in all matters which it discusses other
than those requiring the authorization of the employer.
Advice to the Employer and Master
The effective functioning of the safety organization on a ship will depend greatly upon the support of
the employer and master. In their own interests the employer and master are therefore urged to
interpret liberally their duties which are set out in the regulations. These duties are, in general, to
facilitate the work of safety officials in carrying out their occupational health and safety functions.
For example they are required to provide them access to necessary information, documents, etc. and
inform them of any dangerous cargoes on board and of the dangers which these may cause and of
known hazards on board ship. They should also provide the necessary accommodation, permit
inspections, allow safety officials necessary training on board, allow them necessary paid absence
from ship duties etc. A positive approach to occupational safety is expected from employers and
masters. For example, when any substantial change in personnel occurs the master should draw the
crew's attention to its right to elect safety representatives.
As regards training, the regulations do not go beyond the requirement to provide Safety Officers and
safety representatives with time off from normal duties to undertake any necessary on board training
in their respective safety functions. However, as all safety officials have other shipboard duties to
perform, any on board training will require very careful planning. Moreover, Safety Officers cannot
be expected to fulfill the function of shipboard advisers on occupational safety knowledgeably unless
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they have previously undertaken a proper training course for the appointment.
An employer's or Master's reaction to representations made to him by the safety officials is crucial,
since it will be a very large factor both in determining the level of importance attached to
occupational safety and in the relationships between the employer and Master and safety officials.
All representations received, from whichever source, should be considered carefully. If there is likely
to be a delay in giving an answer, then whoever has made the representations should be informed as
soon as possible. Safety suggestions should be implemented whenever it is feasible and reasonable to
do so and as quickly as possible. Although employers are required only to specify in writing the
reasons for refusing to implement any occupational health or safety recommendations, it is
nevertheless a good idea to express thanks for all such suggestions.
It is most important that the Master takes a close interest in the work of the safety officials on board.
He needs to encourage the Safety Officer by showing interest and by asking questions; the latter also
acts as a check that the Safety Officer is fulfilling his duties effectively. As chairman of the safety
committee the Master is in much the best position to ensure that the committee works successfully.
Particular attention should be given to the encouragement of any safety representative. Every effort
should be made to convince the safety representative that he is a member of a team working for a
common end.
Managers should also ensure that all seafarers in the ships under their supervision are provided with
information on matters affecting their health and safety at work and, in addition, should make
available to appointed Safety Officers and safety committees such further information which they
need to enable them to carry out their functions properly. Such information should include that of a
technical nature about the hazards and precautions deemed necessary to eliminate or minimize them,
in respect of machinery, plant, equipment, processes, systems of work and substances in use at work,
or carried as cargo (where these matters are not already covered by official regulations), including
relevant information provided by the designer, manufacturer, importer or supplier of any article or
substance used by their employees, or carried on their ships.
Where an accident or dangerous occurrence has been reported by a master, consideration should be
given to warning other ships of the occurrence together with appropriate recommendations on action
to be taken.
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16. SSM Safety Officer Test
Candidate details:
Name______________ Surname _______________
Date of birth _______________________________
Company/Organisation _______________________
Other details:
__________________________________________
__________________________________________
__________________________________________
__________________________________________
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Score Mark for Mr. ____________________ _____ of 100%
Passing Score 60%
Test reviewd by _____________________
Split, _______________________
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Contents

ISM Code and Safety Officer Role ..............................................................................................3

1. The ISM Code Outline ......................................................................................................3

PART A Implementation ......................................................................................................4

PART B Certification and Verification ............................................................................... 12

1a: The Law and the UK Regulations ................................................................................... 18

2. The ISM Code: Procedures and People .............................................................................. 21

2.1. The Shipboard Manual Subjects ISF/ICS Suggestions .............................................. 23

2.2. Who Does What? ........................................................................................................ 25

2.3. Audits and Reviews .................................................................................................... 31

3. You as the Safety Officer ................................................................................................... 35

What Are The Duties Of Ship Safety Officer (SSO)? ............................................................ 35

3.1. What Is Safety Management System (SMS) On Ships? ............................................... 37

3.2. Your Role as the Safety Officer ................................................................................... 42

4.1. What Is a Safety Committee on Ships? ........................................................................ 46

4.2. Who should take part?................................................................................................. 49

4.3. Organization ............................................................................................................... 52

4.4. How to run a meeting? ................................................................................................ 57

5. Shipboard Familiarization under STCW ............................................................................. 62

5.1. Planning ...................................................................................................................... 64

Published by: SSM Library

6.1. Principles .................................................................................................................... 75

6.3. Training ...................................................................................................................... 79

6.4. Follow-up ................................................................................................................... 83

7. Creating a Safety Culture ................................................................................................... 88

7.1. The Safety Culture of Shipping Company ................................................................... 89

7.2. Creating a Safety Culture ............................................................................................ 92

7.3. The New Approach to Safety ...................................................................................... 99

8. Risk Assessment .............................................................................................................. 109

8.1. General ..................................................................................................................... 109

8.2. Risk assessment process ........................................................................................... 111

9. How to Apply Risk Assessment?...................................................................................... 132

9.1. Operational Areas ..................................................................................................... 133

10. Safety Inspection .......................................................................................................... 145

10.1. Safety Inspections: Process .................................................................................... 145

11. Permit to Work Systems ............................................................................................... 155

12. Accident Investigation .................................................................................................. 166

13. Emergency Procedures I. .............................................................................................. 181

14. Emergency Procedures II. ............................................................................................. 192

15. Safety on Board & Advice to Safety Officers................................................................ 205

15.1. Safety on Board ..................................................................................................... 205

15.2. Advice to safety officer ......................................................................................... 212

16. SSM Safety Officer Test ............................................................................................... 221

1. The ISM Code Outline

The following definitions apply to parts A and B of this Code.

1.1.7 Objective evidence means quantitative or qualitative information, records or statements of

1.2.2 Safety management objectives of the Company should, inter alia:

.2 establish safeguards against all identified risks; and

1.2.3 The safety management system should ensure:

.1 compliance with mandatory rules and regulations; and

.2 that applicable codes, guidelines and standards recommended by the Organization,

The requirements of this Code may be applied to all ships.

1.4 Functional requirements for a safety management system

.2 instructions and procedures to ensure safe operation of ships and

.3 defined levels of authority and lines of communication between, and

.4 procedures for reporting accidents and non-conformities with the

.5 procedures to prepare for and respond to emergency situations; and

.6 procedures for internal audits and management reviews.

2 SAFETY AND ENVIRONMENTAL-PROTECTION POLICY

3 COMPANY RESPONSIBILITIES AND AUTHORITY

5 MASTERS RESPONSIBILITY AND AUTHORITY

responsibility with regard to:

.1 implementing the safety and environmental-protection policy of the Company;

.2 motivating the crew in the observation of that policy;