Safety and Health at Sea is a manual designed to help ships’ Masters, safety supervisors and officers to create a safe and healthy working and living environment for ships’ crews.
The safety and health of seafarers is protected by an impressive framework of conventions and legislation. The purpose of this manual is to highlight the basic principles that the framework contains and to help seafarers put them into practice. The manual is for reference, but its contents should be used selectively for advice and guidance on particular aspects of safety and health. It describes how to implement the procedures, such as risk assessment and safety inspections, that can prevent accidents. Guidance on how to maintain high levels of health and hygiene on board is provided and checklists will help seafarers focus on the hazards of particular operations on their ships. Finally, there is discussion of the human factor in accident prevention and how understanding it can be used to create a strong and resilient safety culture on board.
Safe and healthy working practices benefit everyone, from individual seafarers to the companies they work for, as well as the customers who rely on the services those companies provide.
