RECALLING Article 15(j) of the Convention on the International
Maritime Organization regarding the functions of the Assembly in relation
to regulations and guidelines concerning maritime safety and the prevention
and control of marine pollution from ships,
RECALLING ALSO Article 28(a) of that Convention which requires
the Maritime Safety Committee to consider, inter alia, the manning
of seagoing ships from a safety standpoint,
NOTING that safe manning is a function of the number of
qualified and experienced seafarers necessary for the safety and security
of the ship, crew, passengers, cargo and property and for the protection
of the marine environment,
RECOGNIZING the importance of the requirements of the pertinent
IMO instruments as well as those adopted by ILO, ITU and WHO relevant
to maritime safety and protection of the marine environment,
MINDFUL of the requirements of SOLAS regulation V/14, as amended, with respect
to the issue of an appropriate safe manning document or equivalent
as evidence of minimum safe manning,
ALSO MINDFUL of the requirements of SOLAS chapter XI-2 and the International Ship
and Port Facility Security (ISPS) Code relating
to the security of ships and port facilities,
BEING AWARE that the ability of seafarers to maintain observance
of these requirements is dependent upon their continued efficiency
through conditions relating to training, hours of work and rest, occupational
safety, health and hygiene and the proper provision of food,
BELIEVING that international acceptance of broad principles
as a framework for administrations to determine the safe manning of
ships would materially enhance maritime safety, security and protection
of the marine environment,
HAVING CONSIDERED the recommendation made by the Maritime
Safety Committee at its eighty-eighth session,
1 ADOPTS the Principles of Minimum Safe Manning,
consisting of Guidelines for the application of principles of
safe manning; Guidelines for determination of minimum
safe manning; Responsibilities in the application of
principles of minimum safe manning; Guidance on contents
and model form of minimum safe manning document and Framework
for determining minimum safe manning, as set out in Annexes 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5, respectively, to the present
resolution;
2 RECOMMENDS that Governments, in establishing
the minimum safe manning levels for ships flying their country's flag,
observe the principles set out in Annex
1 and the procedures set out in Annex
5 and take into account the guidelines set out in Annexes 2 and 3;
3 URGES Governments to ensure that minimum safe
manning documents contain, as a minimum, the information set out in Annex 4;
4 URGES FURTHER Governments, when exercising port
State control functions under international conventions in force with
respect to foreign ships visiting their ports, to regard compliance
with minimum safe manning documents as evidence that such ships are
safely manned;
5 REQUESTS the Maritime Safety Committee to keep
this resolution under review and to amend its provisions as necessary;
6 REVOKES resolutions A.890(21) and A.955(23).