North P&I club Writes New Evidence Handbook

The 125 million GT ‘A’ rated North P&I club has written a new handbook on collecting and preserving factual evidence to help raise levels of responsibility and professionalism within the international shipping industry.

The Nautical Institute has published The Mariner’s Role in Collecting Evidence Handbook as a companion to its guide The Mariner’s Role in Collecting Evidence in Light of ISM. The handbook was launched at a major maritime seminar in Newcastle upon Tyne on 12 November 2010.

Speaking at the Institute’s seventeenth biennial “The Mariner and the Maritime Law” seminar at the Hilton Newcastle Gateshead hotel, North’s joint managing director Paul Jennings said, “Shipping is one of the safest and most sustainable forms of global transport but we face increasingly punitive legislation and liabilities. We thus need to do everything we can to demonstrate to politicians, regulators and the media that seafarers are responsible professionals - which includes responding correctly to and learning from any mistakes. This new handbook will help us all to do just that.”

Tony Baker, head of loss prevention at North and the handbook’s main editor, said, “The most important reason for collecting and preserving good factual evidence is to establish what really happened. Once that it is known, it is relatively easy to work out how it can be prevented from happening again. The process leads to an increased awareness of potential problems and hence greater care and professionalism on board, making life safer for everyone.”