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Emergencies: Transportation and Telecommunication
        
Shipping Emergencies - Search and Rescue
 
When maritime nations gathered together in 1914 to develop the first international shipping safety convention, following the Titanic disaster two years earlier, the focus was not just on preventing shipping accidents but also improving the changes of survival if one should occur.
 
Shipping Emergencies - The GMDSS
 
The basic concept of the GMDSS is that search and rescue authorities ashore, as well as shipping in the immediate vicinity of the ship in distress, will be rapidly alerted to a distress incident so they can assist in a co·ordinated search and rescue operation with the minimum of delay. The system also provides for urgency and safety communications and the dissemination of maritime safety information, including navigational and meteorological warnings. This means that every ship will be able, irrespective of the area in which it operates, to perform those communication functions considered essential for the safety of the ship itself and of other ships operating in the same area.   See More...
 
Places of refuge - the problem of providing places of refuge to vessels in distress
 
In response to the Erika incident of December 1999. the need to review the issues surrounding places of refuge was included in a list of measures drawn at the International Maritime Organization (IMO) aimed at enhancing safety and minimizing the risk of oil pollution, drawn up in December 2000

Further urgency to the work came in the aftermath of the incident involving the fully laden tanker Castor which, in December 2000, developed a structural problem in the Mediterranean Sea.

The ship was towed around the Mediterranean for over a month before a place could be found where a successful lightering operation could be carried out.

In early 2001, the then IMO Secretary-General Mr. William O'Neil determined that the time had come for IMO to undertake, as a matter of priority, a global consideration of this problem and to adopt whatever measures might be required to ensure that ships in distress would be provided with appropriate assistance and facilities as dictated by the circumstances.

The November 2001 sinking of the Prestige further highlighted the issue.   See More...

 
 
 
 
TitleIMO: IAMSAR Manual  ( BOOK )
Follow this link to order this publication
Author(s) / Editor(s)IMO
DescriptionIMO: IAMSAR Manual : International aeronautical and maritime search and rescue manual. Jointly published by IMO and the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), the three-volume IAMSAR Manual provides guidelines for a common aviation and maritime approach to organizing and providing search and rescue (SAR) services. Each volume (available separately in loose-leaf form, binder included) can be used as a standalone document or, in conjunction with the other two volumes, as a means to attain a full view of the SAR system.

Vol. I - Organization and Management, discusses the global SAR system concept, establishment and improvement of national and regional SAR systems and co-operation with neighboring States to provide effective and economical SAR services. 2002 edition (IMO-IA960E) ;

Vol. II - Mission Co-ordination, assists personnel who plan and co-ordinate SAR operations and exercises, 1999 edition (IMO-I962E);

Vol. III - Mobile Facilities, is intended to be carried aboard rescue units, aircraft and vessels to help with performance of a search, rescue or on-scene co-ordinator function, and with aspects of SAR that pertain to their own emergencies.

Also available on CD-ROM (English/French/Spanish) (CD-701)

KeywordsSEARCH AND RESCUE; SAR; GMDSS; EMERGENCIES; IMO
Content Language(s)Russian; Spanish; French; English
Type of BookBook
Purchase Info URLhttp://www.imo.org/home.asp?topic_id=426
Publication Date1999
Reference Info
Edition1999 Ed.Series IDIMO-I962E
Reference Numbers
ISBN92-801-5012-X
  
1076 Topics - 5135 Related Knowledge - 2534 Members - 34 Editors
generationTime:2005/01/13 12:31:28