The Master Authority for the ISM

This is an extract from the International Safety Management Code ISM Code & Revised Guidelines on Implementation of the ISM Code by Administrations

Foreword

With the entry into force, on 1 July 1998, of the 1994 amendments to the International Convention for the Safety of Life at Sea (SOLAS), 1974, which introduced a new chapter IX into the Convention, the International Safety Management (ISM) Code has been made mandatory. Chapter IX was amended by resolution MSC.99(73), which was accepted on 1 January 2002 and will enter into force on 1 July 2002. This is the date on which the ISM Code will became mandatory for a wider range of cargo ships and for mobile offshore drilling units. ------------(omissis)

7. Mobile offshore drilling unit (MODU) means a vessel capable of engaging in drilling operations for the exploration for or exploitation of resources beneath the sea-bed such as liquid or gaseous hydrocarbons, sulphur or salt.

5 MASTER'S RESPONSIBILITY AND AUTHORITY

5.1 The Company should clearly define and document the master's responsibility with regard to:
.1 implementing the safety and environmental-protection policy of the Company;
.2 motivating the crew in the observation of that policy;
.3 issuing appropriate orders and instructions in a clear and simple manner;
.4 verifying that specified requirements are observed; and
.5 reviewing the safety management system and reporting its deficiencies to the shore-based management.
5.2 The Company should ensure that the safety management system operating on board the ship contains a clear statement emphasizing the master's authority. The Company should establish in the safety management system that the master has the overriding authority and the responsibility to make, decisions with respect to safety and pollution prevention and to request the Company's assistance as may be necessary.

6 RESOURCES AND PERSONNEL

6.1 The Company should ensure that the master is:

.1 properly qualified for command;
.2 fully conversant with the Company's safety management system; and
.3 given the necessary support so that the master's duties can be safely performed.
6.2 The Company should ensure that each ship is manned with qualified, certificated and medically fit seafarers in accordance with national and international requirements.
6.3 The Company should establish procedures to ensure that new personnel and personnel transferred to new assignments related to safety and protection of the environment are given proper familiarization with their duties. Instructions which are essential to be provided prior to sailing should be identified, documented and given.
6.4 The Company should ensure that all personnel involved in the Company's safety management system have an adequate understanding of relevant rules, regulations, codes and guidelines.
6.5 The Company should establish and maintain procedures for identifying any training which may be required in support of the safety management system and ensure that such training is provided for all personnel concerned.
6.6 The Company should establish procedures by which the ship's personnel receive relevant information on the safety management system in a working language or languages understood by them.
6.7 The Company should ensure that the ship's personnel are able to communicate effectively in the execution of their duties related to the safety management system