CUT COSTS, NOT CORNERS”
Accidents, Personal injuries or casualty on board a ship, not only hampers the shipboard operations and result heavy commercial losses to the company but also results in rigors investigations from authorities resulting in fines and in some cases jail term ……
The moral of this story – no good ever comes from compromising shipboard health and safety. “Shipping companies/ Operators / On board crew should try and avoid falling into the trap of sweeping safety to the side when times are tough, past experience and post accidents investigations revels that when corners are cut, injuries are more likely to occur.
In long run it can actually be cheaper to invest in proper crew section process, deploying more resources for in house crew trainings, supply of high standard personal protective equipment’s, seek advice from a professional to ensure compliance with companies HSQE policies. By ensuring proper implementation of HSQE policies on across fleet vessels, safety standards can be enhanced.
Financial strain was not an acceptable defence when faced with a health and safety prosecution. That’s why asset integrity and personal safety should always come first.
In present challenging time with lots of financial constrains, Shore Management are constantly looking at ways of reducing their running cost of ships and frequently look to supply chain cost cutting to do so. In this process, delicate balancing act between cost reduction and safety need to be established.
Need to optimised productivity and minimise unnecessary costs, at the same time adhering with health and safety requirements of Company SMS.
