Unions, owners tell IMO marine casualty reports lacking from flag states
THE lack of marine casualty reporting, and inadequate guidelines on what constitutes a "very serious marine casualty" has been highlighted as a concern by shipowners and seafarers' unions.
According to the Safety of Life at Sea (SOLAS) and other conventions, flag states must supply the International Maritime Organisation (IMO) with information on casualties on their ships and create reports on incidents which involve total loss of the ship, death or serious damage to the environment, say International Chamber of Shipping (ICS) and International Transport Workers' Federation (ITF).
The labour federation's acting general secretary Stephen Cotton said a lack of investigation and accident reports impede development by IMO in appropriate safety measures, and particularly for those incidents where seafarers lose their lives.
ICS secretary general Peter Hinchliffe agreed that the absence of investigations "frustrates efforts by ship operators to learn from the reports and to amend or develop new procedures, or implement other measures to prevent or mitigate similar future incidents."
THE lack of marine casualty reporting, and inadequate guidelines on what constitutes a "very serious marine casualty" has been highlighted as a concern by shipowners and seafarers' unions.
According to the Safety of Life at Sea (SOLAS) and other conventions, flag states must supply the International Maritime Organisation (IMO) with information on casualties on their ships and create reports on incidents which involve total loss of the ship, death or serious damage to the environment, say International Chamber of Shipping (ICS) and International Transport Workers' Federation (ITF).
The labour federation's acting general secretary Stephen Cotton said a lack of investigation and accident reports impede development by IMO in appropriate safety measures, and particularly for those incidents where seafarers lose their lives.
ICS secretary general Peter Hinchliffe agreed that the absence of investigations "frustrates efforts by ship operators to learn from the reports and to amend or develop new procedures, or implement other measures to prevent or mitigate similar future incidents."