ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses safety management. Shipping is a safety-critical industry and the most important outcome of HRM is good safety management and performance onboard. The chapter discusses the safety records of the industry, as well as the International Safety Management (ISM) Code and its implementation in practice. It shows that while the safety records of the industry have been improving, they are still relatively poor compared with land-based industries. An examination of past research on ISM implementation reveals that hierarchy and power relations discourage seafarers from reporting safety issues and from raising concerns. As seafarers do not actively participate in safety management and are reluctant to be assertive, safety management, ISM implementation, and leadership and teamwork are negatively affected.
