CICLO DE HISTERESIS: 5.8 Kg/m 3 MACROFIBRAS DE POLIPROPILENO

In terms of their responsibilities in OHSM, each of the crew has corresponding responsibility to comply with operational instructions and procedures as stated in the OHSMS. In general, crew are obliged to report to shore management whatever occurs onboard ship that has implications for OHSM. In particular, the crew should collect and report safety related problems to shore management according to reporting procedures. In addition, for the purpose of continuous improvement of the safety management, crew should be consulted to get their participation into the process of OHSM.

4.3.2 Company 2

Company 2 (C2) is one of the subsidiaries of its Mother Company. Apart from C2, the Mother Company also owns one ship-building company and one ship-repairing company located in the same region. The Mother Company was co-founded by a few strategic investors. C2 was established in 2004 when its first ship was launched. Most of the ships in the company were built by the shipbuilding subsidiary of the Mother Company. The average age of the fleet in C2 was rather new. The smallest ship is about 2,000 DWT, while the biggest one is about 15,000 DWT. At the end of 2010, there were about 15 chemical tankers in operation totalling over 74 thousand tons (DWT). The middle-sized ships were placed in western Asia Pacific region, while a few large-sized ships were operated globally.

All the ships belong to IMO type II chemical tankers. There were several tankers with stainless tank holds, while the rest were coated with either zinc silicate or epoxy resin.

There are several ships registered with foreign nationalities and the rest are all registered under Chinese nationality.

The company has stable cooperation with some of the major international well-known petrochemical companies. A majority of its ships passed external inspections from oil majors such as BASF, Shell, BP, Exxon-Mobil, Lucite and Dow Chemical. A few of their ships have passed the CDI inspections at higher scores. The Company is said to have a leading position in this specialised industry in China. Although the company experienced a short downturn period in the chemical shipping market in 2008, it has been out of the shadow of the financial crisis since 2009.

The Policy and Objectives of OHSM

The company had an OHSM system in place since its establishment. The company has passed the ISM as well as NSM verification since its foundation. The management system was named as Quality and Safety Management System (QSMS). It was asserted that C2 dealt with OHSM on its fleet seriously with an aim to provide the best services to its customers. Its OHSM policy statement is: ‘Safety, Health, Environment Protection and Servicing’. In order to better and thoroughly implement this policy, the qualifications of the shore personnel at managerial positions were particularly considered. The majority of the managers and superintendents in the company are experienced captains or engineers, or had experience working on the ships of the company. Guided by this policy, the company promised to provide ships with safe practices and a safe working environment. On the basis of its normalised, programmed, documented and professionalised management, the company pledged to ensure personal OHS, safety of ships and properties, and to comply with statutory requirements, customers' demands and industrial standards (such as oil majors and CDI). The company agreed to motivate its staff, to promote sea-shore personnel safety management skills, including their contingency reactions for ship’s safety and environment protection. Similar to C1, this company broke down its general policy statement into quantified annual objectives. The objectives are extensions to the original statement. These objectives are illustrated in Table 5.

Table 5: The Objectives of OHSM (C2)

Health Index The personal casualty rate: LTIF^ix<=2.0; TRCF^x<=4.0;

Safety and Environment Protection Index

Average Loss: no occurrence of average level accidents;

minor incidents <= 2/Annum

Machine Damage: no occurrence of average level accidents, minor incidents <= 2/Annum

Environment Protection Index

All the discharge operations should comply with the MARPOL and IBC Code^xi, No occurrence of average level pollution accidents, minor incidents<= 2/Annum

Cargo Damage Index Cargo damage/short landing incident rate <= 2 (times/total voyages)

Safety Inspection Index PSC/FSC inspection detention rate: zero; industrial inspection pass rate: ≥90%

Customer Satisfaction level

≥90%

As explained by a senior manager in the company, safe shipping and customers' demands were the two pillars that underpinned the company’s subsistence and development. On the one hand, the company would try its best to support ships with good working conditions and environment, so that ships could operate at reasonable speeds and fuel consumption levels. On the other hand, the company would ensure punctuality, accuracy, and quality of cargo delivery service to meet the needs of its customers. The company would implement the QSMS policy and objectives through work process monitoring, internal audits and management reviews. The company aimed to be one of the most excellent, professional, chemical shipping service providers in order to forge a state-of-the-art brand in the Chinese chemical shipping industry.

The Structure and Functions

The organisational chart in C2 is shown below (See Figure 3). The key functions of this organisational structure is summarised in the following paragraphs. In consideration of its lack of relevance, the financial department is omitted.

ix Lost Time Injury Frequency

x Total Recordable Case Frequency

xi International Code for the Construction and Equipment of Ships carrying Dangerous Chemicals in

Figure 3: The Organisational Chart (C2)

General Manager

The general manager has the decisive power to determine the organisational structure, position set-up, staff salary grades and annual rewards. He is the key to establish, implement and maintain the OHSMS. He is responsible for providing sufficient resources and shore-based support to the various departments and ships to guarantee the safety of life, property and marine environment and also audits and approves each ship’s charter party and crew leasing contracts. He is obliged to require relevant departments and ships to investigate and analyse non-compliance items, incidents/accidents and near misses. In case of emergencies, he becomes the general commander of the emergency group.

Vice General Manager/Designated Person (Management Representative)

The vice general manager also takes the role of a designated person as stipulated in the ISM.

He is directly responsible to establish, monitor, audit, appraise, review and improve the OHSMS. As a channel of communication between ship and shore, he is obliged to organise

GENERAL MANAGER

VICE GENERAL MANAGER

SAFETY AND QUALITY DEPART- MENT

MARINE ENGINEERING DEPARTMENT

BUSINESS DEPART- MENT CREW

DEPART -MENT

DESIGNATED PERSON

SHIPS’ CREW

and carry out ship visits when necessary. He is the decisive person for the establishment of a crew team which services the company’s fleet. He implements the company’s crew reward and punishment schemes. He is fully responsible for marine affairs safety management and ensures measures for passing PSC/FSC and industrial inspections, such as the oil majors inspections and certifications of compliance. He is the immediate leader of the safety and quality department and the crew department.

Safety and Quality Department

The safety and quality department is responsible for organising and implementing annual internal audit plans and receiving external audits; for coordinating with the marine engineering department to supervise ship maintenance work and conduct safety inspections onboard ships; for tracing ship sailing routes and position, and auditing ships reports and giving feedback; for collecting and disseminating safety information to ships; for providing ships with technical assistance and necessary resources on marine affairs. The department is obliged to ensure that ships can pass PSC/FSC safety inspections and various industrial inspections. The department is required to participate in the investigation of non-compliance, accidents and near misses cases. Also, the department is required to participate in the process of crew selection and their performance appraisals.

Crew Department

The crew department is responsible for exploring the crew market and for maintaining good relations with crew agencies; for crew interviewing, recruitment, training and their performance appraisals. The department is required to recruit competent crew and arrange necessary training to ensure they can adapt to the company’s management system. The department is also responsible for implementing the scheme for rewarding good performers and punishing bad ones; for crew work attendance statistics, salary, bonus and medicine supply. The department has the right to dismiss contracts with crew when evidence of incompetency (or fault) is confirmed.

Marine Engineering Department

The marine engineering department is responsible for monitoring the implementation of the management system in the engine room department of a ship; for ship visits in collaboration with the safety and quality department; for assessing ship’s reports and giving feedback about them; for providing sufficient resources and shore based support to ships;

for the arrangement of ship repair and fleet maintenance work; for purchasing and supplying consumables to ships; for ensuring ships pass PSC/FSC and industrial organisation’s inspections; and for taking necessary measures to control environment pollution and the risk of marine engine accidents. The department is required to participate in the process of ship engineers’ selection and giving them proper training and performance appraisals.

Business Department

The business department is obliged to carry out surveys on the international and national chemical trade market and is also responsible for the development and maintenance of clients. The department gives guidance for ship cargo handling, tank washing and procedure monitoring; for business negotiations with the charterer, contract review and implementation; for risk control in the business management in cases of short landing, freight rate disputes, demurrage and bill of lading issues; for giving responses to cargo owner’s consultations and complaints to provide satisfactory services to customers; and for selecting competent agencies and other related service-providing contractors in foreign or domestic ports.

Crew

In C2, the crew department is in charge of crew recruitment from the domestic seafaring labour market as well as their routine management. According to interview data with the crew manager, there are from 250 to 300 crew registered and working for the company, among whom about 15 percent of them are directly employed by the company. This portion of the crew have longer contract terms (usually 3 or 5 years) with the company. Some of them can even buy internal shares and receive annual dividends from the company. For the recruitment of the crew with short-term contracts, on the one hand, the company outsources a package deal to manning agencies; on the other hand, the company also directly recruits individual free lance seafarers from the labour market. Some of them are introduced by those who have worked in the company before; some by crews own voluntary contacts, and some by internet advertising. For the short-term contract crew, they work on a one-off contract. The contract term is usually 6±2 months for officers/engineers, 10±2 months for ratings.

In terms of crew’s responsibilities in relation to OHSM, it is found that there is no

significant difference from those stated in the end of section 4.3.1. Thus, they will not be repeated here.