The 1st Cadwallader Lecture
The ISM Code : The Road to Discovery?
by
Lord Donaldson of Lymington
26th March 1998
This was the inauguration of the Annual Cadwallader Memorial Lecture. It was significant that, at that event, the late Lord Donaldson predicted quite accurately what he foresaw might happen. The Code, he said, was designed to discover and eliminate sub-standard ships, together with sub-standard owners and managers. In the long term, its destination was to discover new and improved methods of ship operation, management and regulation which would produce a safety record more akin to that of the aviation industry. That was his ideal.
A lot has happened in the last ten year span, internationally, and quality operators as well as industry organisations have made great strides towards the goal of “safe, secure and efficient shipping on clean oceans”. The industry appreciated the importance of super-imposing a ‘safety culture’ upon operators to which the LSLC has contributed by reinforcing that policy through the dissemination of education.
This ISM Lecture, coupled with the LSLC’s subsequent ‘ISM mock trials’ and further seminars continue to cultivate this fresh approach in ship operations.