Rules will deliver an improved safety performance across the shipping industry.

Together in Safety, a consortium of leading maritime organisations and companies, is today launching the Golden Safety Rules to help shipping improve its safety performance. This builds on existing focus areas of Leadership, Incident Prevention, and Wellbeing & Care, with free to use best practices available as part of being the shipping industry’s Virtual Safety Partner, allowing every shipping company to initiate or further develop their safety programme.

The Golden Safety Rules were developed by the Together in Safety Coalition following a detailed review of fatal incident reports across all sectors of the shipping industry. They comprise 10 straightforward to apply and easy to understand areas, for every company and every seafarer to adopt in their everyday work to prevent injuries and fatalities. They cover activities that are most likely to lead to fatalities and serious injury, and focus on the areas that an individual has control over, including enclosed space entry, fall prevention, energy isolation and working over water. 

The Rules have been designed to complement existing management systems and procedures, but do not replace these. They are designed to help keep seafarers safe and are applicable to everyone who works on a ship.

Dr Grahaeme Henderson OBE, Chair of Together in Safety, said: “Shipping is fundamental to the world economy and safety must be our top priority. The Golden Safety Rules are a first for the shipping industry and will further support our efforts, to stop the large number of unnecessary serious injuries and fatalities that occur each day, due to events that could and should have been avoided. 

“Working together we can make a real difference and help to further unite the shipping industry. Shipping company Owners, CEOs and Senior Executives must demand that change is required and lead the way. Their employees are the lifeblood of our industry and we must put them at the very heart of shipping.

“There is also another important aspect to safety, which is that companies with a strong safety performance also have a strong business performance. Simply put, if you get the safety right…you get everything right! The reason is that safety is central to everything that we do, both at work and in our own daily lives.”

Getting our safety programmes right is imperative today and vital for the future success of every shipping company. Feeling safe, energises and motivates staff to perform well and increases trust from the very top of the company right through to the seafarer on the ship. It builds a strong reputation for the company and encourages a positive approach to everyday working.

Safety enables the future sustainability of the shipping industry, attracts high-quality talent, with a strong focus on safety, the decarbonisation transition to new fuels will take place smoothly.

Grahaeme went on to say “Working together we can make a real difference, and ensure that every seafarer arrives home safely to their families and children. The impact will be positively felt across the entire shipping industry and will be a major contributor to its future success. This is a unique opportunity…let’s make it happen!