Health and safety on ships
Safe working practices
Code of safe working practices
By law, up-to-date copies of the ‘Code of safe working practices for merchant seafarers’ must be carried on a UK ship that’s not a fishing boat or pleasure craft.
A copy of the code must be available to any seafarer who requests it.
The ‘Code of safe working practices for merchant seafarers is available to buy from The TSO Shop.
Read the ‘Merchant Shipping and Fishing Vessels (Health and Safety at Work) Regulations 1997’ for safety standards and requirements for merchant ships.
Safety signs
Certain health and safety signs must be displayed on ships, such as emergency escape signs or danger warning signs. Signs must meet legal requirements if they’re permanently displayed.
Read the ‘Amendment 1 Safety Signs and Signals Regulations 2001’ to find out how and where safety signs and signals must be displayed.
‘Permit to work’
The ‘permit to work’ system reduces the risk of accidents on board ship. Under this system, seafarers must get written permission from a senior officer before they can perform hazardous tasks, like:
- working at height and outboard
- working with boilers
- ‘hot work’ (work which could result in the ignition of flammable material, for example welding)
- working in unmanned machinery spaces
- entry into enclosed spaces
- electrical testing
Read about using ‘permit to work’ schemes to test electrical systems in the ‘Code of Safe Working Practices for Merchant Seafarers.
Read ‘Safety Preparations Prior to Machinery Maintenance’ to find out how to prepare for doing maintenance on machinery on ships.