Textbook of Maritime Medicine

The IMO (originally IMCO – the International Maritime Consultative Organization) is a specialized United Nations agency with 168 Member States and three Associate Members, established by the Convention of the International Maritime Organization. This convention was adopted in 1948 and entered into force in 1958.  Thus, IMO could have the first meeting in 1959.  

The mission statement of IMO is  “Safe secure and efficient shipping on clean oceans”.

The main task is to develop and maintain a comprehensive regulatory framework for shipping including safety, environmental concerns, legal matters, technical co-operation, maritime security and the efficiency of shipping.

Up to 1970s the main task for IMO was to establish the different conventions. From this time, maintenance has been the main task. One important example of this is the ongoing (2009) revision process of the STCW Convention (see below, and see Ch. 5).

In 1988 IMO started the discussion on MAC-NET to develop international “Medial Advice Procedures” including medical advise by radio.

4.3.1  MO working concept [2]

The main ruling body is the IMO Assembly, which consists of all Member States. The assembly meets every two years and is responsible for approving the Organization’s work programme, voting the budget and determining the financial arrangements of the Organization.

The Council, which is made up of 40 Member States elected by the Assembly oversees the work of the organization between Assembly sessions.

 Table 4.3.1: The committees of IMO

 The technical work of the Organization is carried out by a series of Committees, to which the Member States send their experts as appropriate. The titles of the Committees clearly reflect their area of expertise and responsibility. The committees are listed in Table 1. The committees consider proposals from member states, and if found appropriate, refer them to subcommittees for more detailed development.

   Table 4.3.2: The subcommittees of IMO

Reporting to the Committees are several sub-committees, which are listed in table 2. This is where the detailed work is done.

The meetings in the committees and subcommittees usually lasts for one week, and about 25 such meetings are held each year.

There are some 50 nationalities represented on the staff, in six divisions: Maritime Safety, Marine Environment, Legal and External Relations, Technical Co-operation, Administrative and Conference.

4.3.2   IMO Conventions [3]

Acknowledging the international character of shipping and the need of international regulation standards which can be adopted and accepted by all, the first maritime treaties dated back to the 19^th century. After the Titanic disaster of 1912, the first international safety of life at sea – SOLAS – convention was agreed, still the most important treatind addressing maritime safety.

IMO is the mother organization for three of the most important maritime conventions, namely the International Convention for the Safety of Life at Sea (SOLAS) of 1974 as amended year by year, the International Convention for the Prevention of Pollution from Ships (MARPOL) of 1973, modified by a protocol of 1978, and the International Convention on Standards of Training. Certification and Watchkeeping for Seafarers (STCW) of 1978, entered into force in 1984, as revised by the 1995 amendments.

But there are a lot of other Conventions from IMO, regulation different parts of the shipping industry, including 12 conventions relating to maritime safety, 7 to maritime pollution, 7 to liability and compensation and for to other topics, i.e. maritime traffic, tonnage measurement, salvage and safety of maritime navigation. See International Conventions, Chapter 5.

4.3.3   IMOs work on the Human Element

It has long been recognised that human capability is crucial to the safe operation of ships. IMO has focused on fatigue, and a working group was established in 1991. 

One example of the combined work is the anchoring of Guidelines of Seaferer’sHours of Work or Rest in both the IMO’s STCW Convention  and the ILO Convention Seafarers' Hours of Work and the Manning of Ships.

 Table 4.3.3: Instruments concerning medical examination of seafarers

Source: http:// www.ilo.org/public/english/dialoguesector/techmeet/ilowho97/meden2.htm#Heading4

Another example is the tripartite cooperation between IMO, ILO and WHO in the Guidelines for Conducting Pre-sea and Periodic Medical Fitness Examinations for Seafarers (1997).

These guidelines meet the obligations in a series of conventions, regulations, recommendations and resolutions[4], as listed in Table 3.

Table 3 also illustrates the complexity of the processes towards international consensus in maritime health, especially when it involves different UN bodies and shall oblige with a number of different international treaties.

[1] http://www.imo.org/

[2] http://www.imo.org/About/mainframe.asp?topic_id=3

[3] http://www.imo.org/Conventions/mainframe.asp?topic_id=148

[4] Guidelines for Conducting Pre-sea and Periodic Medical Fitness Examinations for Seafarers: http://www.ilo.org/public/english/dialogue/sector/techmeet/ilowho97/meden2.htm#Heading4