Best practices to improve maritime safety in the Gulf of Finland: a risk governance approach

The Gulf of Finland of the Baltic Sea is a vulnerable sea area with high volumes of maritime traffic and difficult navigation conditions. The reactive international rules are not anymore regarded adequate in ensuring safety in this sea area. In this paper, a regional proactive risk governance approach is suggested for improving the effectiveness of safety policy formulation and management in the Gulf of Finland, based on the risk governance framework developed by the International Risk Governance Council (IRGC), the Formal Safety Assessment approach adopted by the International Maritime Safety Organisation (IMO), and best practices sought from other sectors and sea areas. The approach is based on a formal process of identifying, assessing and evaluating accident risks at the regional level, and adjusting policies or management practices before accidents occur. The proposed approach sees maritime safety as a holistic system, and manages it by combining a scientific risk assessment with stakeholder input to identify risks and risk control options, and to evaluate risks. A regional proactive approach can improve safety by focusing on actual risks, by designing tailor-made safety measures to control them, by enhancing a positive safety culture in the shipping industry, and by increasing trust among all involved.