CASE STUDIES

HOW SERIOUS ARE WE ON SAFETY IN THE INDUSTRY?

Safety is a serious business
At the global level, UN Recommendations on the Transport of Dangerous Goods adopted by the UN Committee of Experts on the Transport of Dangerous Goods in Geneva in December 2000 takes very serious issue with the transportation of dangerous goods.

These recommendations followed the introduction of the International Maritime Dangerous Goods (IMDG) Code as a uniform international code for the transport of dangerous goods by sea. Governments including Malaysia have been urged to adopt a uniform international code for the transport of such dangerous goods by sea as contained in the 1960 International Convention for the Safety of Life at Sea (Solas).

For maritime safety the Code lays down basic principle; detailed recommendations for individual substances, materials and articles; and a number of recommendations for good operational practice including advice on terminology, packing, labeling, stowage, segregation and handling, and emergency response action.

Among others, dangerous goods are explosives, gases, flammable gases, non-flammable, non-toxic gases, toxic gases, flammable liquids, flammable solids, substances which in contact with water emit flammable gases, flammable solids, self-reactive substances and desensitized explosives, substances liable to spontaneous combustion, oxidizing substances, organic peroxides, toxic and infectious substances, radioactive material, corrosive substances and miscellaneous dangerous substances and articles.

Since it requires Contracting Governments to ensure that port facility security assessments are seriously carried out, port facility security plans are required to be developed, implemented and reviewed in accordance with the ISPS Code. This requires companies in the business to designate a person or persons ashore having direct access to the highest level of management for certification purposes.

It was agreed that there was a need to review and strengthen requirements for Dangerous Cargo Endorsements (DCE) to terminal personnel and cargo surveyors. Amendments were hence made to guidelines for the authorization of organizations acting on behalf of the administration (Resolution A.739 (18)) which are mandatory under Solas chapter XI-1 to require the use of only exclusive surveyors and auditors for surveys and certification which the member states are expected to implement and enforce as well as maintain as high as possible standards of implementation exercising vigilance at all times.

In its latest resolution on Oceans and the Law of the Sea, the UN General Assembly welcomed the entry into force of the ISPS Code and related amendments to Solas and, among other things, urged all states to work with the IMO to promote safe and secure shipping.

At the 2000 Millennium Summit, as remarks by the Secretary-General Kofi Annan, We will not enjoy development without security, we will not enjoy security without development, and we will not enjoy either without respect for human dignity. Unless all these causes are advanced, none will succeed.
(ALIRAN, As portions taken from the Internet submitted 39 May 2008)