New health and safety guidelines for seafarers to bolster the Maritime Labour Convention 2006 should have no major impact owners that have fully implemented the convention.

The guidelines were agreed at a meeting at the International Labour Organistion in Geneva last month. Commenting on the guidelines Nicholas Fisher, ceo of Masterbulk, told Seatrade Global: “Owners have already implemented MLC2006 and these guidelines will assist them to revisit and better understand the requirements and thought processes of the competent authorities.

“In theory there should be no major impact on those owners who have already embraced the legislation for the benefit of their crews. However, in our efforts to continuously improve, there will of course be some areas where incremental adjustments can be made.”

As with other regulations the uniform application of the guidelines is a concern for shipowners and managers.

“From an owners perspective it is inconsistency of application of rules by the various responsible bodies which can cause frustration,” he said.

“It is essential that the guidelines are uniformly implemented and applied across the various competent authorities to enable managers and crews to adopt a consistent standard approach. We welcome this positive step towards creating proactive guidelines that have a genuinely positive effect of the health and safety of the seafarer.”