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Photo: Risto Valkeapää
Olli Kaljala says that technical details are just one part of safety:
“A significant factor is the operation of vessels which is best ensured
by the safety management system of the ship manager.”
Safety culture of shipping
companies key issue
for classification society
Olli Kaljala, the Country Chief Executive of Bureau
Veritas Finland, says that classification societies such as
Bureau Veritas mainly focus on issues of technical nature. After all, technical solutions – which are built and
maintained according to international rules and regulations – lay the basis for safety.
“H
owever, the possibility of a human error is such a central
issue that it must be taken into consideration when you
evaluate ships’ safety,” says Kaljala.
Olli Kaljala himself has worked also at an oil company’s shipping division and therefore knows safety ideology from an area
where ISM (International Safety Management) was introduced
very early on in marine industry.
“For the most part, in all operative incidents and accidents, it
is the human factor that has the leading role. The central element
is the safety culture of the shipping companies. The top management must be aware of what’s happening at sea, so that everything can be done by the book with regards to safety.”
According to Kaljala, the safety management systems and
taking into account the human factor are part of the business for
most classification societies nowadays.
”The class always runs into the human factor when there is
an exceptional situation or an accident. The human factor must
be integrated into the whole safety thinking. As preemptive measure, we are performing auditing of the shipping companies’ safety management system which maps out the functionality of the
system and seeks to eliminate risk factors.”
Kaljala points out that safety thinking becomes more important in demanding environmental circumstances – for Bureau Veritas, for instance, special vessels are an important segment. “For
instance, the Caspian Sea’s ice-breaking tugs, which were built in
Romania by STX Europe, are ICE Class 1A Super according to BV
classification. In Finland, Bureau Veritas is known as the classification society of several passenger ferries which operate in the often
harsh winter conditions of the Gulf of Finland,” Kaljala adds.
RISTO VALKEAPÄÄ
54
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