IMO Safety Symposium Proposes an Overhaul

The recent IMO Symposium on the Future of Ship Safety recommends that the International Maritime Organization (IMO) carries out a full review of the existing regulatory regime, in order to meet future needs and expectations.

Following two days of intense discussions on a wide range of issues impacting the future of ship safety, the Statement of the Participants of the Symposium recommends that IMO’s Maritime Safety Committee (MSC) (which is meeting for its 92nd session from 12 to 21 June) should:

• consider how to improve data collection and increase its availability in order to support monitoring and development of safety regulations;
• consider how to better integrate risk-based methodologies and the latest analysis techniques into the safety regulatory framework to provide a sound scientific and practicable basis for the development of future safety regulations;
• consider ways of encouraging a safety culture beyond mere compliance with regulatory requirements;
• take into account the burden any new or changing regulation(s) place on the seafarers and consider how this burden can be minimized; and
• consider undertaking a long-term comprehensive review of the existing safety regulatory framework with a view to ensuring that it will meet the future challenges associated with the application of new technologies, the human element, the needs of the maritime industry and the expectations of society, taking into account the ever-increasing pace of change and technological advancements made since the 1974 SOLAS and the International Load Lines Conventions were adopted.

Speaking at the close of the Symposium, IMO Secretary-General Koji Sekimizu said that the fascinating, stimulating and insightful Symposium had considered wide-ranging issues, relating to a more goal-based, risk-based approach.

Symposium Statement and speeches can be found here: http://www.imo.org/About/Events/FSS/Pages/default.aspx