December - Harley Marine Services, Inc.

Safe, Responsible, Reliable, Efficient
Page 5
Q – FACTOR
By: Captain Richard Graham, Director HSQE
Effective Safety Management
Safety Departments throughout the maritime industry work tirelessly to define Effective Safety Management.
There are many resources available to teach us how to become safer organizations in this industry. We spend
numerous hours developing Safety Management Systems based upon various International and National
standards and guidelines. In the USA, proposed regulation for the towing industry is finishing up the public
comment period and after some revision will eventually become law. For those companies who are currently
in compliance with AWO-RCP or the ISM Code, the hard work has been completed and continuous
improvement refinement is the future. But what about those companies who operate without effective
procedures, without risk management and hazard identification programs and without a safety management
system to drive safety performance? Do we have sub-standard towing companies on the waterway?
These are questions the USCG, AWO and individual towing companies have been trying to answer for many
years. Depending upon your perspective and by comparison of safety performance throughout the industry,
the perception of the general public is yes, there are sub-standard towing companies on the waterways.
Accidents continue to happen in both well managed companies and poorly managed companies. The
difference is well managed companies have effective Safety Management Systems that mitigate the risks to
acceptable levels or eliminates that risk completely. The consequence associated with any accident is
managed through pre-planned emergency procedures and by developing internal organizational processes
to manage the risk before the accident becomes reality.
At Harley Marine Services, all employees, managers, directors and executive management are working
together to insure we have well trained crews working in well maintained equipment to provide “Safe,
Responsible, Reliable and Efficient” transportation of petroleum fuels. We are expanding to new markets and
building new equipment to the highest standards in order to provide the services our clients demand. Our
crews actively and aggressively pursue the highest safety performance standard. We are entering a new age
when regulation and perhaps litigation will now define how effective our safety management systems must
perform. This is why Harley Marine Services supports the proposed regulations requiring Safety Management
Systems throughout the towing industry as the best and most effective way to ensure our national waterways
remain safe for transportation of petroleum products.