The Department for Transport (DfT) has announced that Maritime Safety Week 2019 will take place from 1 to 5 July, beginning with the launch of the Maritime Safety Action Plan at Trinity House in London on 1 July.
This follows on from the success of the inaugural Maritime Safety Week in 2018, introduced by Maritime Minister Nusrat Ghani MP to bring the maritime industry together and provide a focus to highlight the work being done daily to ensure the safety of seas and inland waterways around the UK.
The Minister’s stated objectives for the week are to recognise and highlight all the excellent safety work that already goes on across the maritime sector; to provide an opportunity to focus on some specific challenges that the sector faces and what is being done to tackle them; to facilitate the sharing of knowledge, experience and best practice; and to capitalise on the momentum created by last year’s Maritime Safety Week by reiterating key safety messages.
The Maritime Safety Action Plan builds on the lessons learnt during Maritime Safety Week 2018 and is part of the continued implementation of the safety recommendations from the DfT's Maritime 2050 strategy; it sets out the DfT’s approach to maritime safety and the priority areas for action to be taken forward.
Chapter 10 of the plan covers the work of the three General Lighthouse Authorities of the UK and Ireland and their shared mission to deliver a reliable, efficient and cost-effective aids to navigation service for the benefit and safety of all mariners.
The week can be celebrated on all social media platforms using #maritimesafetyweek and #maritimesafetymatters throughout the week and beyond.
Trinity House’s Deputy Master Captain Ian McNaught offered the following message of support:
“I am very happy that we at Trinity House—as well as our sister General Lighthouse Authorities the Northern Lighthouse Board and Irish Lights—can comprise a key element in this welcome partnership between government and the maritime sector. This is a great opportunity to demonstrate the value of maritime Britain and the part that safety at sea has to play in the government’s progressive Maritime 2050 strategy. Trinity House is already hard at work with its mission of maritime safety and remains alert at all times for meaningful ways to promote awareness of what the sea means to us as a nation and the challenges that mariners face.”
NOTES TO EDITORS
Trinity House is a charity dedicated to safeguarding shipping and seafarers, providing education, support and welfare to the seafaring community with a statutory duty as a General Lighthouse Authority to deliver a reliable, efficient and cost-effective aids to navigation service for the benefit and safety of all mariners.
Please visit www.trinityhouse.co.uk for more information.
Contact
Trinity House:
Neil Jones, Public Relations and Records Manager
Email: neil.jones@trinityhouse.co.uk / Tel: +44 (0)1255 245155
Department for Transport:
Email: maritimesafety@dft.gov.uk / Web: www.gov.uk/dft