By
Rebecca Gibson |
The International Chamber of Shipping (ICS) has published new guidance for shipowners, which is designed to provide shipping companies and crews with better practices to ensure an effective safety culture.
Launched at the IMO Symposium on the Future of Ship Safety in London, the brochure highlights three essential components needed to develop a safety culture: commitment from the top, measured performance, and modified behaviour.
It also emphasises the importance of accident and ‘near miss’ reporting, in an effort to encourage shipping company personnel to provide essential safety-related information when an incident occurs.
“Our brochure is intended to provide some basic advice to companies on the successful implementation of an effective safety culture,” said ICS Secretary General, Peter Hinchliffe. “This covers the vital need for all concerned, at sea and ashore, to understand the relationship between unsafe acts and serious incidents that may result with loss of life. Repeated analysis demonstrates that serious accidents in shipping are nearly always due to a failure to follow established procedures.”