Major bill passed: Increased safety at sea and improved seafarer working conditions 

A wide majority in the Danish Parliament has just passed a bill presented by Minister for Economic and Business Affairs Brian Mikkelsen proposing to amend the Act on Safety at Sea, the Seamen’s Act and various other acts.

The act contains a number of elements of which especially the basis for Denmark’s accession to the Maritime Labour Convention and a safety package for the fishing industry should be emphasized.

The Convention creates improved working conditions

The Act establishes the basis for Denmark’s accession to the United Nations’ International Labour Organization’s (ILO) Maritime Labour Convention. Danish maritime law does, to a wide extent, meet the requirements of the Convention, but it has, however, been necessary to introduce certain amendments.

The Convention is an up-to-date international regulation of seafarers’ working conditions. As an innovation within the ILO area, the Convention means that countries that do not ratify the Convention and that do not fulfil it will, in reality, be prevented from operating in the field of international shipping. In this way, the Convention ensures that shipping companies cannot compete on poor working conditions. Also for this reason, the Convention is an important step towards furthering quality shipping globally.

Director General of the Danish Maritime Authority Andreas Nordseth states that the new legislation means a strengthening of the possibilities of quality shipping:

“In Denmark, we strive for quality shipping. The fact that the way has been paved for the new Convention in Denmark sends a strong signal about this to the surrounding world. Quality shipping is characterized by safety, health and high quality in all respects. When the Convention has been implemented internationally – hopefully, in the foreseeable future – we will, from the very start, have gotten far in terms of compliance with the requirements. This will be an advantage for the industry.”

Safety package for the fishing industry

The amendment of the act will also lead to a number of other improvements of safety at sea, among other things an increased fine level in connection with serious accidents and stricter rules of liability for shipowners. At the same time, a number of initiatives will be taken to increase the safety of the fishing industry. The so-called safety package focuses especially on small fishing vessels and contains the following main items:

• Periodic surveys: In order to increase safety, fishing vessels must, in the future, be subjected to a survey every five years.
• Reporting obligation: Shipyards are to inform the Danish Maritime Authority about fishing vessels that have been rebuilt. In this way, it is ensured that the Danish Maritime Authority can survey the ship if necessary.
• Mandatory freeboard mark: It must be possible for all fishermen to easily see whether the size of the cargo is proper and legal.
• Increased guidance and campaign activities focusing on prevention and safety culture.

“With the safety package, we strive to ensure optimum safety – also on small fishing vessels. Consequently, we have focused on a joint package with a number of very specific measures that we clearly expect will improve safety on board”, says Andreas Nordseth.

The entire bill – L 100 – is available in Danish from the webpage of the Danish Parliament, www.ft.dk.