Page 13 - Demo
P. 13
The Maritime Safety Forum during Safety@Sea Week 2015 was held at Novotel Clarke Quay Singapore and saw over 250 delegatesincreased the conducting of spot checks on vessels to ensure observance of safety standards and maintenance of safety equipment.To enhance navigational safety in the Singapore Strait, MPA launched the Safety@Sea Singapore Campaign on 31 July 2014. The campaign is an industry-wide effort to increase awareness of safe practices and focuses on the human element in marine incidents. This could only be achieved through garnering the support of the maritime community to do their part to raise safety standards.The logo of the Safety@Sea campaign was launched by Mr Andrew Tan, MPA’s Chief Executive, together with representatives from the Association of Regional Ferry Operators, Singapore Maritime Employers Federation, Singapore Sailing Federation, Singapore Power Boat Association, PSA Marine and Singapore Shipping Association. Information kits containing posters, decals and guidebooks were distributed to the community.Safety@Sea WeekMPA launched the inaugural Safety@Sea Week in November 2014. It was anchored by the Maritime Safety Forum and aimed to share and promote safety practices to the maritime community. Safety workshops tailored for ocean going vessels, passenger ferries, harbour craft and pleasure craft community were also held to share experiences and discuss best practices. Visits to MPA’s Port Operations Control Centre were arranged for the community. 10 PSA Marine Harbour pilots who displayed exemplary effort in good practices were presented with certificates of commendation.In the following year, the Safety@Sea Week was held in August 2015. The launch of the National Maritime Safety at Sea Council on 17 August 2015 kicked of Safety@Sea Week 2015. The 2nd Maritime Safety Forum was attended not only by the local community but also by international delegates who were in Singapore to participate in the Mass Rescue OperationsWorkshop jointly organised by MPA and International Maritime Rescue Federation (IMRF). The new event was added to Safety@Sea Week where participants were invited to observe a full deployment of ferry rescue exercise at sea.The Ferry Rescue Exercise is an annual exercise where MPA, in collaboration with other government agencies and regional ferry operators, practise activation procedures and operational readiness of manpower and resources in accordance with MPA’s Ferry Mishap Contingency Plan. Following the incident with the Sea Prince ferry, MPA conducted an additional ferry evacuation exercise in May 2016 to test the preparedness of the ferry’s officers and crew on their management of evacuating passengers in the event of an emergency.This year’s Safety@Sea Week was held from 29 August to 2 September 2016. MPA launched the 2-day inaugural International Safety at Sea Conference on 30 August 2016. Over 30 international speakers and industry experts from different sectors of|11FEATURESISSUE 51 | WAVES