The International Safety Management Code (ISM Code) comes with a mandatory compliance requirement by virtue of its adoption in to SOLAS (Safety of Life at Sea) Chapter IX, and has come in to force since 1 July 1998. The background for the Code is certain tragic shipping accidents including the Herald of Free Enterprise in 1987 and the loss of the Estonia in 1994.
Under the Code, effective for most vessels (including tankers) of 500 gt and above from 1998 and for other cargo ships and mobile offshore drilling units of 500 gt and above from 2002, companies needed to develop, implement and maintain a Safety Management Systems (SMS) for their vessels. Compliance requires both shore (management) and ship side (officers and ratings) implementation.
By Captain John Dudley MSc
Consultant at Tankerisk LLC
Madison, Wisconsin USA
john.dudley@tankerisk.com
www.tankerisk.com