Safety Culture Charter

Every year many hundreds of seafarers are killed or seriously injured due to the dangerous nature of their work.  Improvements in safety will take leadership, collective responsibility and all of the industry working collaboratively together as one. This charter is a demonstrable step towards that goal, driving continuous improvement of safety culture across the maritime industry.

Launching the new Charter, President of the UK Chamber of Shipping, Sir Michael Bibby, said:

“There is nothing worse than a major incident at sea and improvements in safety performance are always possible. This will be the first time the UK shipping industry has worked together to improve safety culture – not just safety, but the culture underlying it. 

“The aim of this Charter is simple; to reduce the number of accidents and incidents at sea. I am delighted that already 20 companies, representing nearly 90,000 seafarers and over 1,500 ships have signed up to the Safety Culture Charter.”

This will be the first time the UK shipping industry has addressed safety culture in a collaborative manner.

Shipping companies are already addressing their safety cultures and working with their employees to improve it, but this approach allows a collaborative way of working where shipowners share lessons learned and the barriers faced in the pursuit of making shipping safer.

As a trade body, the UK Chamber of Shipping works closely with businesses that are involved in every aspect of the shipping industry. We also hold important relationships with external stakeholders including the Department for Transport, Maritime and Coastguard Agency and International Maritime Organisation. As such, the Chamber is uniquely placed to have the knowledge in order to implement an industry-wide Charter. 

• Provide appropriate resources to promote a standardised and consistent understanding of Safety Culture; 
• Facilitate industry wide discussions resulting in greater harmonisation and collaboration on the collection, and use, of data and safety issues
• Champion the Safety Culture initiative across the industry to share best practices and lessons learned;
• Identify noticeable trends in safety concerns and disseminate information to members;
• Provide a focussed Safety Culture Working Group and hold relevant industry events.