ISM Code, the Bible of Shipping industry was introduced, 30 years back in 1994. It has been reasonably successful in bringing ‘safety’ in the boardroom. But how smooth has the road been, from ‘assurances’ in the boardroom to the vessel? What are the challenges which obstruct, delay, disrupt and dislodge the conversion of such ‘Safety and Quality assurances’ to ‘Safety and Quality’ deeds on the vessel?
Accidents in the 21st century such as El Faro, Dali, Wakashio, Costa Concordia, Deep water horizon, Ever Given, MSC Napoli, Hanjin Pennsylvania, Hyundai Fortune, Rena, MSC Flaminia, MOL Comfort, Maersk Honam, X-Press Pearl and others, reminds us that all is not well with the ISM code. gcaptain.com/the-worst-containership-disasters-in-recent-history-in-photos/
Sitting atop Heinrich’s 1931 pyramid, such incidents raise questions, whether the code has given, what can be argued, an overwhelming responsibility to a Ship Management company, while ignoring the two most important entities, which control the strings of the purse and provide all the required resources to operate the vessel, namely the owner and charterer.
Charterer and a Ship owner remotely control the Vessel & Company, with de facto total authority but zero responsibility under the Code.
While a Charterer can’t be held responsible for a vessel’s safety, but by including their reasonable role in the ISM code, the industry can take pride and be more synonymous with ‘Safer ships and Cleaner oceans.
Oil companies have done it pro-actively using the SIRE, TMSA, MTMSA etc systems. It is one reason why petroleum carriers are a shade above in all aspects of ‘safety and quality’, with lesser incidents than their dry counterparts.
The code needs to be made more robust to address these 21st century financial drivers and the lip service culture towards Safety and Quality?
ISM’s mother, the ISO 9001 from @iso has been amended diligently four times in its 41 years history. Over 1.6 million companies having adopted it willingly, measuring their return on investment using ISO 10014. It is thus time, that money spent on ‘safety & quality’ is perceived by shipping financial heads, as an investment and not an expense. This is more likely to smoothen the road and journey of ‘Safety Pays and Quality Earns’ message from the boardroom to action on board the vessel.
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