Resolution A.947(23)
HUMAN ELEMENT VISION, PRINCIPLES AND GOALS FOR THE ORGANIZATION
(adopted
on 5 December 2003)
THE
ASSEMBLY,
RECALLING
Article 15(j) of the Convention on the International Maritime Organization
concerning the functions of the Assembly in relation to regulations and
guidelines concerning maritime safety and the prevention and control of marine
pollution from ships,
RECALLING
ALSO resolution A.680(17), by which it invited Governments to encourage those
responsible for the management and operation of ships to take appropriate steps
to develop, implement and assess safety and pollution prevention management in
accordance with the Guidelines on management for the safe operation of ships
and for pollution prevention,
RECAEL1NG
FURTHER that resolution A.742(18), concerning guidelines on procedures for the
control of operational requirements related to the safety of ships and
pollution prevention, acknowledges the close relationship between the human
element and safety,
BEARING
IN MIND resolution A.772(18), on Fatigue Factors in Manning and Safety, which
aims at increasing awareness of the complexity of fatigue and encourages all
parties involved in ship operations to take these factors into account when
making operational decisions,
ACKNOWLEDGING
the need for increased focus on human-related activities in the safe operation
of ships, and the need to achieve and maintain high standards of safety,
security and environmental protection for the purpose of significantly reducing
maritime casualties,
ACKNOWLEDGING
ALSO that human element issues have been assigned high priority on the work
programme of the Organization because of the prominent role of the human
element in the prevention of maritime casualties,
HAVING
CONSIDERED the recommendations made by the Maritime Safety Committee at its
seventy-seventh session and by the Marine Environment Protection Committee at
its forty-ninth session,
1.
ADOPTS the human element vision, principles and goals for the Organization, set
out in the Annex to the present resolution;
2.
INVITES Governments to bring this resolution to the attention of their
representatives who attend meetings of the Organization for appropriate action,
and to encourage those responsible for the operation and design of ships to take
the relevant principles into account when making design and operational
decisions;
3.
REQUESTS the Maritime Safety Committee and the Marine Environment Protection
Committee to consider proposals for new or revised instruments or procedures
relating to safety, of life at sea, security and protection of the marine
environment, taking into account the annexed human element vision, principles
and goals;
4.
REQUESTS ALSO the Maritime Safety Committee and the Marine Environment
Protection Committee to keep the annexed vision, principles and goals under
review and take action as appropriate;
5.
REVOKES resolution A.850(20).
Annex.
HUMAN ELEMENT VISION, PRINCIPLES AND GOALS FOR THE ORGANIZATION
To
significantly enhance maritime safety and the quality of the marine environment
by addressing human element issues to improve performance.
a) The human element is a
complex multi-dimensional issue that affects maritime safety and marine
environmental protection. It involves the entire spectrum of human activities
performed by ships' crews, shore-based management, regulatory bodies,
recognized organizations, shipyards, legislators, and other relevant parties,
all of whom need to co-operate to address human element issues effectively;
b) the Organization, when
developing regulations, should honour the seafarer by seeking and respecting
the opinions of those that do the work at sea;
c) effective remedial action
following maritime casualties requires a sound understanding of human element
involvement in accident causation. This is gained by a thorough investigation
and systematic analysis of casualties for contributory factors and the causal
chain of events;
d) in the process of
developing regulations, it should be recognized that adequate safeguards must
be in place to ensure that a single human or organizational error will not
cause an accident through the application of these regulations;
e) rules and regulations
addressing the seafarers directly should be simple, clear and comprehensive;
f) crew endurance, defined
as the ability to maintain performance within safety limits, is a function of
many complex and interacting variables including individual capabilities,
management policies, cultural factors, experience, training, job skills, and work
environment;
g) dissemination of
information through effective communication is essential to sound management
and operational decisions; and
h) consideration of human
element matters should aim at decreasing the possibility of human and
organizational error as far as possible.
a) To have in place a
structured approach for the proper consideration of human element issues for
use in the development of regulations and guidelines by all committees and
sub-committees;
b) to conduct a
comprehensive review of selected existing IMO instruments from the human
element perspective;
c) to promote and
communicate, through human element principles, a maritime safety culture and
heightened marine environment awareness;
d) to provide a framework to
encourage the development of non-regulatory solutions and their assessment
based upon human element principles;
c) to have in place a system
to discover and to disseminate to maritime interests studies, research and
other relevant information on the human element, including findings from marine
and non-marine incident investigations;