Guidelines & standards
Click to find clear guidelines and standards for safety at sea, along with all the support you need to raise standards.
About DryBMS
Setting new standards for excellence at sea
By raising management standards, the DryBMS will improve performance across our industry. The guidelines and standards are a range of achievable goals that will help you reach excellence in safety, security, environmental and social welfare on board vessels and ashore.
While using the DryBMS is voluntary, those who take part will be pioneering a new safety standard. The guidelines and standards have been created by the industry, for the industry, by experienced ship managers and maritime experts.
They focus on the four most serious risk areas we face in vessel operations:
- Performance
- People
- Plant
- Process
Each area can be completed to one of four
levels:
levels:
- Basic
- Intermediate
- Advanced
- Excellence
Why we need it
In the last decade, there have been over 2,000 bulk carrier incidents in which more than 200 seafarers have lost their lives. That simply can’t go on. The DryBMS aims to drive down these numbers, by helping ship managers improve how they manage vessels.
It will do that by complementing the compulsory International Safety (ISM) regulatory code, which provides a pass or fail measure of vessel Safety Management Systems (SMS). Although essential, this basic minimal safety requirement gives no indication to the quality and content of an SMS.
The DryBMS will grade the excellence of a company’s SMS against measurable expectations and guidelines – without adding excessive inspection burdens. While the DryBMS won’t be a replacement for the ISM Code, it will build upon industry standards and provide a systematic approach to encourage ship operators to move from minimum compliance – to operational excellence.
DryBMS today
The DryBMS has been created by international ship managers and maritime risk management experts coming together in working groups to provide input and feedback into the standard.
With support and interest more than 500 companies from 42 countries, we are now ready to take the next steps to achieve a united approach to dry bulk safety. So we’re asking for feedback and input at this vital development stage.
Benefits of a shared standard
- Covers all relevant ship management issues in one document
- Relevant to the whole dry bulk shipping industry worldwide
- Complements other statutory requirements and industry guidance
- Frequently evaluated to drive continuous improvement