By
Michele Witthaus |
Carnival has announced a comprehensive audit and review of all safety and emergency response procedures across all of the company’s nine cruise lines in the wake of the Concordia disaster.
Micky Arison, chairman and CEO of Carnival, said that although the company and the cruise industry as a whole had maintained an excellent safety record over the years, “this tragedy has called into question our company’s safety and emergency response procedures and practices. While I have every confidence in the safety of our vessels and the professionalism of our crews, this review will evaluate all practices and procedures to make sure that this kind of accident doesn’t happen again.”
The review is being led by Captain James Hunn, a retired US Navy Captain and currently the company’s senior vice president of maritime policy and compliance. Hunn has overseen Carnival’s health, environmental, safety and security practices for almost a decade and has been active in maritime policy work during this time. Together with senior health and safety executives from each of the lines, he will review all safety and emergency response policies and procedures, officer and crew training and evaluation, bridge management and company-wide response and support efforts. The findings will be reported to the health, environment, safety and security committee of the board and to Howard Frank, Carnival’s vice chairman and chief operations officer. Frank said, “This company-wide initiative will identify lessons learned and best practices to further ensure the security and safety of all of our passengers and crew.”
Emergency response organisation, training and implementation experts from outside the company will also be engaged to conduct an audit of all of the company’s emergency response and safety procedures and to conduct a thorough review of the Costa Concordia accident.
In addition to these measures, Carnival stated that it supports the call for a comprehensive evaluation of safety regulations by the International Maritime Organization, which the Cruise Lines International Association requested on 19 January.