• Journal of the Korean Society of Marine Environment & Safety
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• v.24 no.1
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• pp.43-55
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• 2018

The biggest change in the field of coastal ship safety control since the accident of passenger ship Sewol has been the introduction of the maritime safety supervisor system. With its introduction, the safety control system in coastal passenger ships was changed from consisting of operation managers and marine police to operation managers and a newly-introduced maritime safety supervisor. The safety control system for coastal cargo ships was also converted from relying on ship inspection officers to having a maritime safety supervisor and ship inspection officers. However some negative elements have surfaced due to confusion related to the scope of work in the coastal cargo shipping field. These have been caused by dividing the supervisory agency, a lack of work continuity given non-permanent public official status, low supervisor qualifications overlooking reality, and limitations of the order for improvement to secure seaworthiness. It is essential that the maritime safety supervisor system be solidified to reinforce coastal ship safety control. Therefore, systematic safety control in the coastal cargo shipping industry should be conducted by a single, integrated government agency, and the area covered by the order for improvement to secure seaworthiness should be extended. Also limitations of the supervisor recruitment system due to non-permanent public official status should be simultaneously improved. In addition, it is necessary to upgrade supervisor qualifications to require experience with surveyors of international class, ship captains, and chief engineers.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Marine Environment & Safety
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• v.24 no.1
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• pp.56-67
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• 2018

With the introduction of the maritime safety supervisor system in Korea following the passenger vessel Sewol accident, the safety control system for coastal vessels has been reinforced. A maritime safety supervisor performs marine accident prevention activities by offering periodical or occasional guidance and supervision. When a deficiency is found during guidance or supervision sessions, an order for improvement is issued to rectify the problem by such measures as supplementation or replacement of vessel facilities, improvement of work hours and working conditions for employees, educational and training programs for executives and employees, or the improvement of other affairs relating to maritime safety control. However the present order for navigation suspension by a maritime safety supervisor is limited solely to supplementation or replacement. For this reason, orders for navigation suspension against other facilities is impossible, even if a serious deficiency that could lead to a marine accident such as poor cargo loading conditions or unqualified crew is identified. Therefore, the order for vessel navigation suspension to secure seaworthiness should be expanded to include cargo loading/unloading operations, certificates and documentation, maritime safety management systems, and human elements including emergency drills and working conditions, in addition to the supplementation or replacement of vessel facilities that exists.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Marine Environment & Safety
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• v.27 no.6
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• pp.783-788
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• 2021

Although the Korean government (Ministry of Ocean and Fisheries) and related organizations are enforcing many policies to improve the marine safety of vessels with weak safety management, the effectiveness of each policy is deficient due to the lack of a risk assessment method for ship safety management. Most previous studies in Korea of the risk assessment of ships only dealt with fragmentary risks of individual marine accident risks, so a new assessment method for comprehensive marine accident risk is needed. Examples of comprehensive risk assessments for ship safety management are the selection method for inspection targets by the Port State Control and the Norwegian Maritime Authority. In this study, indicators for the comprehensive risk assessment of ship safety management were developed for and applied to coastal/offshore fishing vessels that occupy a high proportion of the registrations and marine accidents in Korea. As a result, the risk of each ship was confirmed quantitatively, and a ranking of the weakness factors for ship safety management was identified.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Marine Environment & Safety
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• v.25 no.6
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• pp.708-716
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• 2019

After the Sewol ferry disaster, the maritime safety supervisor system was introduced to strengthen maritime safety control for coastal vessels. If any critical defect is found in vessel facilities during periodical or occasional guidance and supervision on a vessel, a maritime safety supervisor takes an administrative measure: detention of the vessel until it has been completely corrected. The detention order is one of the most powerful regulations exercised by a maritime safety supervisor. It would not be an overstatement to say that the guidance and supervision conducted by a maritime safety supervisor is very important for the safety of a vessel and protection of the maritime environment. However, the regulatory level of each Regional Office of Oceans and Fisheries toward vessels may vary with the enforcers, and an individual's intentional act or negligence might occur during the execution process. Detention of a coastal vessel by the Regional Office of Ocean and Fisheries can easily lead to delayed navigation, and a vessel owner may suffer economic loss from suspension of a charter party. Nevertheless, the Maritime Safety Act does not prescribe filing a petition for objection to the measure of detention order by a maritime safety supervisor. To overcome this problem, therefore, the objection procedure under the Maritime Safety Act has to be reformed to reclaim a right against an inappropriate detention order measure caused by an individual's intentional act or negligence through a formal objection.