Cracking the Code

The run up to phase two implementation for cargo ships was a good time to carry out an independent survey to gauge stakeholder reaction to the Code and its contribution towards improving safety.

In 2001 the then President of The Nautical Institute, Captain Martin Scott, included in the Institute’s five year plan a commitment to review the success or otherwise of ISM Implementation.

To find out how the industry was responding, it was decided to undertake a major survey.

Dr Anderson sent out some 70,000 questionaires distributed worldwide to individuals ashore and afloat. Some 3,000 completed questionnaires were returned as well as the detailed comments of 800 others and these form the core of a book which attempts to answer the key questions ‘Is the ISM Code working?’ and ‘Is it having any measurable effects?’

Although many respondents were critical of the paperwork blizzard unleashed by the Code, a significant 10% indicated gains in both safety and profitability through the implementation of effective systems.

The book which resulted from a Herculean effort in ploughing through data gives an analysis of what seafarers and managers currently think about the ISM Code, demonstrates that the Code can be an effective framework for improving safety standards and shows how real commercial benefits are derived from personnel sharing the common goal of improving safety.

Lead author Dr Anderson said, ‘The ISM Code can and does work.

I hope that Cracking the Code will help point the way towards convincing those who might need convincing that an investment in the ISM Code is possibly one of the best business investments they could ever make. They will also help to make ships safer and seas cleaner along the way.’

Cracking the Code
By Dr Philip Anderson, supported by Captain Stuart Nicholls, Capt John Wright and Capt Sean Noonan.
Published by The Nautical Institute.
ISBN 1 8700 77 63 6.
Hardback, 340 pages.
Price, Members £24.50, Non-members £35.