If you are reading this, you are probably thinking about getting your office and/or ships certified to the requirements of the ISM Code. If this is correct, you should first get a thorough understanding of the ISM Code so that you will be able to plan, structure and document your safety management system (SMS). Your personnel in the office and aboard ship must know how to comply with the system. Who is going to train them? You? A consultant? If you are going to train your personnel to comply with the SMS and conduct internal audits, then you should know the Code like you do the back of the palm of your hand.

Classification Society requirements as well as local and international shipping regulations, codes and guidelines have been in force for many years to assist ship owners in building, maintaining and operating their ships to high standards. Despite this, shipping accidents have occurred and analysis shows that about 80% of shipping accidents are caused by human error. Of this 80%, 75% to 90% may be attributed to poor management or lack of a management system. There is need to address the human factor in shipping and this is the intention of the Code.

For many years, prior to the 1980's, the standard of seamanship aboard ships and in the office had been deteriorating. In 1982, the International Chamber of Shipping (ICS) and the International Shipping Federation (ISF) developed a voluntary scheme relating to safe management practices in shipping and the Code of Management Practice in Safe Ship Operations was born.

The loss of the "Herald of Free Enterprise" in 1987, and other vessels that followed, resulted in the refinement of the Code which in 1994 became the Annex to Chapter IX of SOLAS.