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 Safety, Environment
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ISM Phase 2:
What’s more to it?
Four years after tankers, bulk carriers and passenger
vessels were subjected to the International Safety Management (ISM) code,
the time has come for Phase 2, “other vessels”. This means that
all cargo vessels in international trade of more than 500 gross tons will
need to have an ISM certificate by the deadline on 1. July 2002. If not,
the ship’s certificate and insurance will be cancelled and the ship
grounded.
A lot of resources were made available for the Phase 1 process
which included the more advanced vessels owned by larger companies. Now
when the smaller ships and owners are battling with the Code, there is
far less attention by authorities, class and media. The time has come
to the master owners and the smaller companies, generally with thin shore
organizations and with limited resources to build and implement a safety
management system. With the focus on getting the paper work in place by
the deadline, it is to be feared that the smaller owners may not be able
to reap the benefits of the Code.
 Because
there are benefits beyond improved safety.
Experience
from Phase 1 ships clearly points to effects like improved communication,
higher efficiency and productivity, better maintenance as well as reduced
frequency of accidents and personal injuries. Statisticts from Barber
Ship Management reveals that sign-off injuries has been radically reduced
since 1998, from 12 to 4 incidents per million working hours.
The
safety system has also been good for the insurance costs. A comparison
by The Swedish Club shows that Phase 1 vessels have had a 30 per cent
reduction in H&M claims over 1997–99 in relation to Phase 2 vessels.
The
main element in the ISM Code was the establishment of clear division of
authority and responsibility between ship and shore organisation.
A
report by the Australian Maritime College and the Tuzla Maritime Faculty
presented at the IAMU conference in Kobe last October, clearly pointed
to faulty management ashore as the main cause of frequent deficiencies
on board. It suggested that management companies should strengthen their
technical and commercial capability in order to improve the co-ordination
of the management process.
To
create and maintain a viable ISM system clearly take resources and need
the support of a well structured quality assurance and improvement system.
How to get to the benefits?
How could a small shipowner without organizational resources be able to
reap the benefits of safer and more efficient operation?
–
As a small management company we have given lots of thought and considerations
to building a quality ISM structure, says Ronald Hansen, head of Sunbay
Management AS in Bergen.
With a seafaring background and experience from chemical tanker operation
and management, Ronald Hansen sought to design a web-based QA-management
tool based on TQM 9000 that would help owner and vessel to gain the support,
solutions, control and safety – in short the full benefit of the
Code. It was important to give the owner the full access to reports and
statistics, information of relevance to the commercial operation of the
vessel, as well as regulations and procedures to the ship and the owner.
Some of Sunbay’s clients are smaller owners who wish to take part
in the management, preferably as superintendents, and they are being linked
to the main management office by the web-based system. The ISM Code will
whatever way it is implemented require a safety culture and a constant
reporting. With such a contribution, the Sunbay system offers the benefit
for large and small owners alike.
Linked
to LMG Marin, a firm of naval architects and consultants, Sunbay is a
part of a comprehensive maritime knowhow, ranging from cargo ships to
offshore and naval craft.
Hansen is thinking ahead in terms of Total Quality Management, a package
to shipowners that comprise everything from strategic analysis, market
and logistic research, design and engineering, financing and building,
management and a continuous improvement system. The company is presently
marketing a radical new design for chemical tankers which offers 30 per
cent improvement in efficiency over current designs.
–
We know there are significant gains to be had by combining research, analysis,
engineering and management, says Ronald Hansen.
//Dag Bakka Jr
15 years of safety management
1987 The loss of Herald of Free Enterprise leads
to IMO agreement on guidelines for safety management on board and ashore.
1988 IMO passes “Guidelines on management for
the safe operation of ships and for pollution prevention”.
1990 The Scandinavian Star accident. The Scandinavian
countries launch the process for a mandatory safety management system.
1991 Revision of “Guidelines”.
1994 IMO decision to make “Guidelines”
mandatory as International Safety Management (ISM) as addition to SOLAS-74.
1998 The ISM Code deadline for Phase 1, tankers,
bulk carriers and passenger vessels.
2002 The ISM Code deadline for Phase 2, other vessels
and drilling rigs.
Back to SSG 5
Latest update 18-10-2006 8:49
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 CURRENT SSG |
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No 12/2008
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| CURRENT SST |
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No 15/2008
Köp numret
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2002