Editorial (23)
Corporate organisations need to demonstrate a commitment to sustainable development through the three tenets of Corporate Social Responsibility - social, economic and environmental performance. (Alertl lssue 5)
Corporate organisations need to demonstrate a commitment to sustainable development through the three tenets of Corporate Social Responsibility - social, economic and environmental performance. (Alert! Issue 5)
Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) should be very much at the heart of what those who are responsible for the financial aspects of ship operations are doing. CSR is all about an organisation taking responsibility for the impact of its activit ies upon its employees, its customers, the community and the environment. So, the principles of CSR apply as much to the business of shipbrokers and charterers as they do to the financiers, finance teams and insurers.
When it comes to human element issues - whether this be in the brokering or chartering of ships or in their procurement design, operation or support - there will always be a fine balance between what is seen as a 'cost' against what should be considered an investment'.
Too often, the term 'human error' is cited as the cause of an accident; in some cases, it may be correct to say that the immediate cause was through 'operator error; but when looking to the root cause, that 'human error' may well have started at the procurement Of chartering stage if little consideration has been given to ensuring that the ship and its crew are really 'fit for purpose' or, indeed, whether that ship is 'fit for the crew:
The insurers also have a ro le to play here by highlighting the human e lement issues when assessing and prioritising risk, when raising awareness of the threats that can lead to Insurance claims, and when determ ining what controls should be in place to reduce such claims.
However, this does not mean that it is necessary for everyone to become a human element expert. Rather, as is starting to come across clearly from some of the articles in this Issue, there is a collective responsibility for the industry to address the human element, with each different stakeholder having a specific role to play.
For each stakeholder, therefore, there Is a responsibil ity to acquire, value and use relevant information about human element issues in their decision making and to know from where to get this information. For each stake holder there will be skills related to eliCiting, analysing and acting on this information.