Measuring Safety Onboard

To ensure that the Safety Culture onboard is constantly improving and being followed, the company should come up with a way to track the effectiveness of the system. This is simply done onboard by encouraging crew members to report any near misses that occur. Additionally, any incidents and accidents occurring onboard the ship will also be taken into account. 

• Accidents – are events that result in serious injury or damage to life or the ship.
• Near miss – is a narrowly avoided accident.
• Incidents – are events that do not result in serious injury or damage to life but might result in damage to the ship.

This means of measuring the performance onboard will assist in identifying new measures that must be put in place to enhance safety further.

Safety Committee Meeting

At the end of the month, a monthly meeting known as a Safety Committee Meeting is usually carried out onboard, where all the crew including the Master, Head of Departments and all crew members regardless of rank, meet and discuss the quality, health, safety and the environment. 

The main purpose of such meeting is to discuss how to enhance the safety onboard and develop better working practices. During these meetings, the crew are encouraged to report and discuss any near misses, incidents and accidents that have been observed throughout the month. 

Modifying Behavior Ashore and Onboard 

The main aim of creating a safety culture onboard is to shape the behaviour of both the company ashore and the seafarers in recognizing the importance of safety. For a safety culture to be effective, everyone involved be it shoreside personnel or crew onboard, must understand and believe in the importance of safety and think and act safely. With that said, promoting and developing an efficient and effective safety culture takes time and requires extreme commitment. 

When an SMS (Safety Management System) as per the ISM Code (International Safety Management Code) is implemented onboard, the following of the guidelines provided in the system by the company will immediately result in a change of behaviour of personnel onboard. Although this may not be enough, it is still a step towards a better Safety Culture. 

Accidents, Incidents, and Near-Misses 

When a major accident or incident occurs onboard a ship, a company tends to focus on spending money, dedicating time and effort to figuring out what happened and what was the cause.  This action taken by the company is considered to be part of the Safety Culture practised. 

Usually, the factors causing such accidents are found to be already reported before possibly as part of something smaller, such as near misses. When ships Report such factors in advance and the company follows by ensuring appropriate remedial action, accidents that lead to damage to life, the ship or the environment may be prevented.  Therefore, it is of utmost importance for both the company and the seafarers onboard to recognize the value of reporting any non-conformities and near misses without delay. Additionally, by having a full understanding of the reasons why incidents occurred, the introduction of corrective action becomes possible.  

With that said, once the corrective action has been applied, the chances of an accident or incident resulting in damage to life, the ship or the environment will be immediately reduced.