About Us and Careers

Safety

Leading Industry in Safety Performance

For more than 150 years, ABS has been promoting the security of life and property and preserving the natural environment. With a passion for making the world a safer place, while also delivering practical and innovative solutions, we stand ready to assist and advance the marine and offshore industries.

Safety


Christopher J. Wiernicki

Christopher J. Wiernicki

Message from Christopher J. Wiernicki

President and CEO of ABS and Chairman of the ABS Group of Companies, Inc.

A world-class safety culture entails focus, attention and consistent actions to drive positive change. That is how I would describe the efforts of ABS employees around the globe. We are focused on our mission and passionate about being a leader in safety excellence.

Safety excellence requires us to fully embrace our practices and make them a part of our daily lives. It demands that everyone be accountable for their own health and safety excellence and to intervene when they see a potentially unsafe situation.

Through our mission and spirit, we have built a framework to empower our employees to make a positive difference in health and safety for ABS, our clients and the industries we serve. 

Signature of Christopher J. Wiernicki

ABS and Green Award Collaboration

Helping to drive safer and more sustainable global shipping.

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Improving Safety and Productivity through Design

Security of life starts with improving the safety and well-being of personnel with a clear understanding of their capabilities and limitations. This understanding is then incorporated into design practices and principles.

ABS has been active in developing maritime industry safety, human factors and ergonomics guidance documents. The ABS approach captures important elements affecting safety and efficiency in job performance, vessel or offshore installation design and layout considerations, workplace environmental elements, management and organizational issues related to operations, and the personnel who operate the offshore asset. 


ABS research and development activities in safety and human factors strive to address many industry concerns:

  • Mariner Personal Safety (MPS)
  • Workplace Design
  • Management and Organization.

Examples of research at ABS to address safety issues include:

  • What is the appropriate vessel or offshore installation design to help personnel safely and successfully access equipment to complete assigned tasks?
  • Do existing designs comply with regional influences or expectations?
  • Do existing designs violate worker expectations and possibly increase individual tendencies for risk taking and risk tolerance? 

Need more information about safety and human factors in design? Contact your nearest office to ask for guidance.

 

Occupational Health and Safety

The ABS ongoing safety excellence initiative incorporates strong occupational health and safety processes and policies, including its Stop Work Obligation rule authorizing all employees to intervene if safety is in question in any aspect of their work. 

ABS continues to increase engagement in leading safety behaviors, including timely reporting of potential incidents or hazards and documenting near misses.

Quality

ABS sustains its high-quality performance level related to service delivery through training, procedures and active senior management attention to safety and Port State Control performance records.