The Often Undisclosed Efforts of the Marine Safety Department

 

Safety is often one of the most overlooked aspects when going on a trip at sea. But don't get it wrong, it’s not that safety is not been taken care of at all. It's just that when anyone is onboard for anything other than work or duty, the last thing they want is to hear a one-hour briefing on lifebuoys and emergency signals.

 

However, unbeknown to us, hundreds of different safety measures take place every day to ensure our welfare and that of our fellow citizens as well. Let’s take a look at some of those measures and the factors on which they depend.

 

The capacity and performance of marine safety are the main factors upon which all their results rest. There are many people involved in the marine safety program, which is headed by the Coast Guard, and along with it, every department plays an important role. And the number is only increasing as a result of an ever-larger number of new ships that need to be monitored to make sure they comply with all the basic safety regulations. All of which in turn has generated an ongoing need for more inspectors, supervisors and engineers, and of course, of even more training officers.

 

However, all of this would be of no use if they didn't count with the appropriate tools to perform their jobs, like centers of excellence and leading technology systems which help them expand their outreach and establish a quality standard worthy of public confidence.

 

Among their main activities we can find:

• Set the quality standards for any ship's crewmembers, as well as the quality of the safety equipment of the vessel.
• To prevent pollution and respond appropriately to it with rehearsed tactics.
• Monitor all vessels that come into the national territory regardless of their nationality.
• Inspect any containers which contents might be considered dangerous.
• To regulate and authorize the pass of pleasure crafts (i.e. cruise ships).
• Register national vessels.
• In charge of all navigation-related radio communications.
• Licenses for deck officers, pilots, engineer officers, operators of uninspected vessels and staff in general.
• To protect the environment and have ready a set of many different procedures/response systems to react against any unexpected circumstances.
• Record management for all merchant mariners
• Handle both the incoming and outgoing cargo, among others

And this is just a very small sample of the many responsibilities given to marine safety.

 

As a result, marine safety programs provide every citizen with a safe and secure marine transportation structure with a level of complexity you are now able to understand a bit better after this short introduction.

 

But even if not much of this makes sense to you, at least you will have no trace of doubt about how important marine safety is, and how seriously they care about their business, so we don’t have to.

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