Over the last 20 years we have seen
a dramatic shift in the way that our in-
dustry operates. When I started prac-
ticing law, many companies looked at
safety planning as a balancing act where
you weighed the costs associated with
safety against the costs associated with
working through employee claims. Un-
fortunately, our employees often ended
up on the losing side of the balancing
test. The industry goal seemed to be completing the task at
hand, regardless of the risk.
Today, due to changes in the mindset of our industry,
we no longer see these types of attitudes. Now, employee
safety and the protection of the environment are impor-
tant, if not the most important, issues that we deal with.
Now that the entire industry is focused on safety, it is up
to each operator to fi gure out the best way to accomplish
the goal of operating accident free. As Ben Franklin stated,
“Failing to plan is planning to fail.”
Although you may be interested in maintaining the saf-
est work environment possible, without a plan and effec-
tive leadership, the goal is probably unachievable. Simply
having a goal of operating safely is not enough to set up the
culture of safety and the plan that is needed to successfully
implement a safety program. This culture must start at the
top and embed itself into the mindset of each and every
employee working within the company.
OUT IN FRONT
Leadership is critical to safety planning because our ves-
sels and crews operate under a wide variety of conditions,
with crews that operate beyond the offi ce’s ability to di-
rectly manage and working with and around equipment
that is capable of causing signifi cant damage to the crew,
the vessel and the environment. As such, communicating
an effective “culture of safety” is the cornerstone to the
implementation of a safety plan. This culture can only be
effectively created through leadership.
All companies communicate a message that safety is
important. However, the difference between the com-
panies that effectively carry out this message in the fi eld
and the ones that do not is leadership. This leadership
must begin at the top and work its way down through
every level of the organization. This message can be com-
municated through the usual channels including policies,
seminars, safety alerts, and training. However, none of
this will work if all employees in the company don’t “buy
into” the program. This is where leadership setting the
example is the key.
Leaders set the tone for the entire organization. When
boarding a vessel, I customarily receive a detailed safety
briefi ng from the vessel’s offi cer in charge of safety. This
type of safety briefi ng is necessary and conducted by all
vessel owners and operators in the industry. However, sev-
eral clients that we work with, based upon the vision of
its leaders, take it to the next level. When visiting the cor-
porate offi ces of these companies, I often receive a similar
safety briefi ng where I am told what to do in the case of an
emergency, where the emergency exits are and where my
muster station was located.
I fi nd it hard to imagine that a crewmember working on
a vessel does not believe that management takes safety seri-
ously when the offi ce staff conducts safety briefi ngs for all
visitors. This type of culture cannot be generated through
the use of “catch phrases” and public-relations campaigns.
This type of culture can only be fi ltered down from the top
and understood by all employees. The process can only be
done through effective leadership, the fi rst stage in imple-
menting an effective safety plan.
Once management has committed to the implemen-
tation of a safety culture, the next step is to design and
implement a plan. Because vessel operations can range
from the operation of small crewboats to enormous spe-
cial purpose ships, that operate in local or international
waters and with different rules and regulations that apply
for each operator no single safety plan will work for all
companies. For example, Tidewater’s safety management
system would not be feasible for a towing operator who
owns three small vessels.LEGAL
Plan for Safety
Effective Leadership and a Safety Management System are the
Keys to Success. Failure to lead has consequences.
By Larry DeMarcay
DeMarcay20 MN February 2017