The IMO Sub- committee on Human Element Training and Watchkeeping – HTW9 took place from 6 February to 10 February in London.

Eva provided a summary of what happened that week. And provided updates regarding the following:

Summary of HTW9
The tenth session of the HTW Sub-Committee took place form 6-10 February 2023. For this session, three documents were submitted with proposals on training provisions on psychological safety, bullying and SASH. A document from South Korea contained ‘a review of the amendment to the STCW Convention: provisions on human rights training including bullying, sexual assault and harassment prevention’. A document submitted by the USA proposed ‘mandatory training provisions to address the prevention, awareness, bystander intervention, reporting and response to bullying and harassment including sexual assault and sexual harassment’.

And the document our group worked on: a document submitted by Dominica, Bahamas, Brazil, Kenya, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Türkiye, Viet Nam, Abuja MoU, OCIMF, IFSMA, InterManager, IMHA and WISTA International proposed training provisions on psychological safety addressing bullying, sexual assault and harassment in the maritime sector. Document HTW9/7/8, proposed amendments to the STCW Code, table A-VI/1-4, provided in annex 1 to the document. The document also highlighted the critical issue of training provisions on psychological safety, to address bullying and sexual assault and harassment in the maritime sector.

The amendments focused on including specific content to establish appropriate maritime workplace behavioral norms and essential human elements of overall psychological safety on board vessels and, indeed, in all aspects of the maritime industry.

The initiative was taken after the publication of some of the worst reports on human rights violations at sea that our industry has learned about in decades. It brought to light the tip of the iceberg, a wicked problem, that is invisible for most and seems to be normalized within the maritime sector and on board of ships: a trend that demonstrates a serious lack of psychological safety.

Improving education, knowledge and understanding on psychological safety has an immediate effect on seafarers’ mental and physical well-being. This will, in turn, augment onboard operational safety, security and environmental protection.

What was agreed upon during the HTW9 Sub-Committee:
(conclusions from the final report of the meeting)

• The inclusion of new competencies for all seafarers relating to bullying and harassment, including SASH, under table A-VI/1-4 of the STCW Code, should be prioritized at this session and would form the legal basis for a revision of Model Course 1.21. At a later stage during the comprehensive review of the STCW Convention and Code, other related matters could be addressed.
• Taking into account that short-term educational interventions might not be able to change attitude and behavior, consideration should be given, at a later stage, to the need for amending the ISM Code to require companies to address bullying and harassment, including SASH, under their Safety Management Systems, as well as other instruments such as the FAL Convention.
• In order to have the amendments adopted at MSC 108 (May 2024), the amendments needed to be approved at MSC 107 (June 2023). Noting that JTWG, which was scheduled to be held at the end of 2023, was planned to consider this matter, as instructed by MSC 105. In this connection, MSC 107 should be requested to authorize JTWG to send their comments directly to MSC 108. Another option would be to have the comments of JTWG considered at HTW 10 (February 2024), after which HTW 10 would report to MSC 108.

Proposals and decisions during plenary on Friday (still to be included in the final report of HTW9).

Since the importance and priority of the matter, the sub-committee decided to set up an informal, intersessional drafting group/correspondence group. This group is going to work on providing the new competences on psychological safety, as part of the comprehensive review of the STCW for submission to HTW10. (Chair: Sweden). The amendments need to be approved at MSC 108 (May 2024) and adopted at MSC 109.

During the HTW9 Working Group that worked on the amendments of the STCW Code, table A-VI/1-4, it was decided a new and separate competence should be developed on psychological safety specifically. The first draft for this work is shared below, for your information: