Carriage, Handling and Storage of Dangerous Goods along

58 RECOMMENDATIONS
The process of building a culture of safety requires a strong commitment within the industry. Safety
and environmental plans should be effectively incorporated into routine vessel operations, including
investments in improved workplace safety and training. Reliable means of measuring the success
of these initiatives, as reflected in crew and company performance, are paramount and should be
accompanied by third-party audits and compliance monitoring by relevant authorities in the Member
Countries. Performance-based inspections, focussing on demonstrations of crew competencies and
incorporation of vessel-safety management plans into daily operations, provide the best means of
evaluating the effectiveness of implementation efforts.
The MRC provides the forum for developing, adopting, reviewing and updating the regulatory
framework in which navigation on the Mekong River operates. With the adoption and implementation
of regulations on the carriage of dangerous goods on the Mekong River, the safety and security record
as well as the environmental performance of the inland tanker barge industry in Member Countries
will improve. However, improvement cannot be brought by regulation alone. It depends also on good
practices adopted and constantly refined by the industry, and a dedication to safety and environmental
protection by the people it employs.
3.2 PREPARATION OF THE RECOMMENDATIONS
The purpose of the recommendations is to improve safety of transport of dangerous goods at the
interface of inland tanker barges with other vessels or shore facilities (terminals and ports) and, in
doing so, reduce the risk of pollution and protect the environment. Recommendations are based
on best-known practices on the operation of tanker barge and risk-based control. By enhancing risk
awareness, the recommendations will try to make an environment where deficiencies and uncertainties
associated with some shipboard operations are reduced with prescription. They will also encourage
barge crew and their employers to identify - on a regular basis - the risks in every shipboard action
and then implement risk-reduction measures. This puts the focus on people and is, therefore, entirely
consistent with a strategy related to the human element.
The recommendations are made for personnel on the safe carriage and handling of such products
that are normally carried in petroleum and chemical inland tanker barge as well barges carrying
packaged dangerous goods either in containers or as general cargo. They will provide operational
advice to assist personnel directly involved in tanker operations and when handling dangerous goods
in general.
Guidance on and examples of certain critical aspects of tankers and barges carrying dangerous goods
are provided and show how these aspects have to be managed. The recommendations formulated
have primarily the intention of dealing with existing hazards onboard an inland waterway barge
that form a risk of fire, explosion and pollution. It therefore deals with the precautions to be taken
to mitigate the most critical hazards onboard. In this chapter, recommendations are made based on
the Risk Analysis (Volume 1) conducted by the National Working Groups. International experts have
compared the findings with best practices and recommendations follow priorities in the Risk Analysis.
In Volume I, priority areas were assigned to different vessel types were applicable:
• Cambodia Cargo Vessel;
• Viet Nam Tanker - High-Standard;
• Viet Nam Tanker - Low-Standard;
• China Tanker; and
• Lao PDR Cargo Vessel.