New safety policies announced
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The Cruise Line International Association (CLIA) and the European Cruise Council (ECC) have adopted two further new passenger safety policies triggered by the Costa Concordia accident in January.
The new policies, which are a direct result of the Cruise Industry Operational Safety Review launched shortly after the incident, focus on issues related to the recording of passenger nationality and the common elements of musters and emergency instructions.
The passenger nationality policy states the nationality of each passenger onboard is to be recorded and made readily available to search and rescue personnel as appropriate.
In addition, under the new Common Elements of Musters and Emergency Instructions policy, member cruise lines have specified 12 common elements that will be communicated to passengers in musters and emergency instructions. Among those common elements are a description of key safety systems and features and an explanation of emergency routing systems and recognizing emergency exits. According to CLIA and ECC, both policies exceed current international regulatory requirements.
“These new safety policies are representative of the industry’s commitment to raising standards across the global fleet and of our willingness to listen and act on good ideas brought forward by other interested stakeholders,” said Manfredi Lefebvre d’Ovidio, chairman of ECC. “Establishing common elements of a muster policy will provide our guests with the confidence that they are receiving the same key safety messages no matter which ship they cruise. Providing additional information on passengers’ nationality is a direct and immediate response to a good idea and, as with our other voluntary commitment, is applicable with immediate effect”.
