Lead Organisation:
 The Maritime and Coastguard Agency, Scotland

Project Publications

Safety@Sea Case Study.pdf - 649K

Objectives

The overall aim of the project is to enhance maritime safety in the Northern Periphery. The project will engage in five strands of work related to enhancing maritime safety in the Northern Periphery:

• a project to create more awareness of, and interest in, AIS in the Northern Periphery using knowledge gained from other S@S AIS infrastructure projects
• a project to assess attitudes to safety aboard fishing vessels in the Northern Periphery and, using this information, to assess safety culture over a two-year cycle, alongside possible programmes of intervention
• a project to enhance co-operation and co-ordination of the response to a passenger ship emergency in the Northern Periphery;
• an overview by the project steering group, assessing the future development of maritime safety topics and ensuring the dissemination of lessons learned from the project
• co-ordination with the Maritime Safety Umbrella Operation

Project Activities

AIS technology and its potential use in the Arctic will be discussed with local communities and promoted to local partners and communities interested in AIS, while relations will be created with potential local partners in future AIS implementation projects in the Northern Periphery. The project will also assess attitudes to safety aboard fishing vessels in the Northern Periphery and, using this information, re-assess safety culture over a two-year cycle in light of various programmes of intervention.

An objective and scientific analysis of safety attitudes will inform the development of accident prevention and/or mitigation strategies. A passenger ship emergency seminar will be organised to consider such emergencies in the Northern Periphery area and to share information on relevant response facilities, plans and procedures.

Expected Results

• The project will contribute to maritime safety and hence an improved maritime transport infrastructure.
• Enhanced co-operation and emergency response co-ordination will lead to the development of guidance on major passenger ship incident response. It is expected that the safety of seafarers and the protection of the maritime environment in an area with increasing tanker traffic, cruise traffic and fishery activity will be improved in consequence.
• The added value of Iceland, the Faeroes and Scotland working together on the project lies in the co-operative approach to improving safety in a dangerous industry, the shared analysis of comparative studies, and the dissemination of lessons learned.
These elements will be further enhanced by involving Norway and Greenland in follow-up discussions.
• Improved mutual understanding of the threat and the shared resources available to deal with maritime safety; improved contingency planning as a result of plan elements being tested in the exercise and the dissemination of best practice between participants; the further action report; and the dissemination of this report, and guidelines developed from it, to non-participants across the Northern Periphery and beyond.