Standard Safety, July 2018

It has been over 30 years since the Herald of Free Enterprise disaster. In that time, many of the safety issues faced on board ships have remained constant, some have improved, and some new risks have emerged.

In this edition of Standard Safety we reflect on certain pressing issues faced by members of the club, reflecting the emerging risks or demonstrating a new way to tackle an old problem.

Twenty years of the ISM code
The International Maritime Organization (IMO)’s Guidelines on Management for the Safe Operation of Ships and for Pollution Prevention (ISM code) first became mandatory in 1998. Twenty years and five amendments later, we reflect on how the code is doing and what still needs to be done. Read more

Near miss reporting: a (mis)leading indicator of safety?
That reporting near misses will improve safety is an unquestioned belief in many companies. But why? Read more

The human element – the effects of fatigue on ship safety. Part 1 – practical advice to shipowners
The human element is consistently found to be a root cause of incidents, and fatigue is a major contributing factor. In this article, we look at some of the research and the measures put in place to resolve this issue. Read more

Carriage of IMDG cargoes
The club regularly receives member queries on the carriage of dangerous cargoes in packaged form. As of 1 January 2018, the 2016 edition of the IMDG code is mandatory. This article provides a reminder of the requirements. Read more

T&Ps and ECDIS: considerations for deck officers
ECDIS was designed to improve safety and ease the workload of navigators. One activity which has burdened navigators since the invention of paper charts is that of chart corrections. ECDIS could have eliminated this task
entirely because updates to Electronic Navigation Charts (ENCs) are applied automatically and can be date dependent. Standard ENC updates are applied easily via digital media, but the situation regarding Temporary and
Preliminary Notices (T&Ps) is more complex. Read more

Cyber security
Modern technology has changed the way ships are operated. Whilst this technology has generally improved the efficiency and safety of ships, these improvements come at a price in the form of an increased vulnerability
to cyber attack. Read more