Step 2 of 5•2 minutes read
The Background
Just as with many other conventions and regulations, the International Maritime Organisation (IMO) has been working with reactive legislation when establishing the ISM code, meaning that the regulations are established after something has happened. You will now learn more about the catastrophes that led to the ISM code.
In the '80s and '90s, two major accidents occurred, the Herald of Free Enterprise and Scandinavian Star, which resulted in the safety rules and regulations that are the ISM code.
On the 6th of March 1987, the Herald of Free Enterprise, a British RoRo-vessel, was about to sail through the English Channel, from Zeebrugge in Belgium to Dover in England. At 18:00, she was ready to depart, and she left the port. The weather was clear, and all of the 590 persons onboard were expecting a delightful trip over. Unfortunately, the person responsible for closing the bow door had fallen asleep, and the bow door was, therefore, never closed.
Forty-six minutes later, she was sailing at a speed of 18.9 knots. Water was rushing into the boat, and the stability was destroyed. From the first odd and unpredicted movement emerging until she had capsized, less than two minutes had passed, and nearly two hundred persons lost their lives.
Due to this accident, IMO established Resolution A.647 regarding Safety Management, completed in 1991. But before Resolution A.647 was finished, the Scandinavian Star reminded the world of how fragile shipping can be.
Scandinavian Star was set on fire on April 6, 1990, killing 159 people, and the official investigation blamed the fires on a convicted arsonist, who died in the fire. The accident reminded the whole world of how fragile shipping can be. Photo: Swedish TV4
In April 1990, Scandinavian Star was bought and relocated; she was now going to operate the route from Oslo, Norway, to Frederikshavn, Denmark. With less than a week to train the crew, passengers were taken onboard, and it was time to sail on the 1st of April.
On the 7th of April, a few minutes to 02:00, a fire was detected by a few passengers passing by. They reported it immediately, but a new fire was detected just a few minutes later. This time, it was too hard to eliminate the fire, and the crew had not gotten proper firefighting training to handle it. The captain decided to evacuate the vessel and called for help. At 03:38, the captain left the ship, even though there were still persons onboard. One hundred fifty-nine (159) persons lost their lives, many of whom were families with children. This led to a revision of the IMO Resolution A.680 (17).
The revision resulted in the International Safety Management Code, often shortened to The ISM Code, which is the same that we know today. The ISM code is now a part of SOLAS (The International Conventions for Safety of Life at Sea) and sets the minimum standard for a Safety management system.