Origins of ship safety requirements formulated by International Maritime Organization

摘要

The International Maritime Organization (IMO) is a specialized agency of the United Nations deals with international shipping. Its primary purpose is to develop and maintain a comprehensive regulatory framework for shipping and its remit today includes: safety, environmental concerns, legal matters, etc. In order to achieve its objectives, the IMO has promoted the adoption of some documents such as conventions, codes and recommendations concerning maritime safety, the prevention of pollution and related matters. Many of these documents include the ship safety requirements. In order to apply them to ships, they first should be generated, prepared and recorded. This paper deals exactly with the origins of ship safety requirements. Depending on the safety requirement origins, the IMO actions can get the reactive or proactive character. Reactive actions are used in response to a particular situation being observed, whereas proactive actions involve acting in advance of a future situation, rather than just reacting. It means taking control and making things happen rather than just adjusting to a situation or waiting for something to happen. In the paper, development of safety technical requirements for ships is presented based on experience of the author as a chairperson of Polish department for Subcommittee of Ship and Equipment Design (DE) of International Maritime Organization.