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IMO International Safety Management Code

Provides an international standard for the safe management and operation of ships and for pollution prevention, requiring shipping companies to implement a safety management system. Applies to shipowners, operators, and managers of seagoing vessels.

View official source document

Rules extracted

107

Obligations decomposed

8.2x

Avg obligations per rule

🌐 International

Jurisdiction

About this regulation

The ISM Code provides an international standard for the safe management and operation of ships and for pollution prevention. It requires companies to establish a Safety Management System (SMS) and assigns responsibilities for safety oversight, emergency preparedness, maintenance, and documentation.

What AuditDSS covers

Source

Regulation

Extracted

Rules

Decomposed

107

Obligations

8.2x

Decomposition ratio

Each rule is decomposed into an average of 8.2 atomic obligations — the smallest testable units that can be independently violated.

Fully extracted & scored

All 107 obligations have been decomposed, titled, risk-scored, and embedded for semantic matching.

Risk scoring

Every obligation in ISM Code is scored across independent risk dimensions:

Obligation Weight

How critical within the regulatory framework

Violation Likelihood

How often breached in practice

Enforcement Evidence

Regulator enforcement history and penalties

Cascade Dependency

How many obligations depend on this one

Regulatory details

Full title: IMO International Safety Management Code
Regulatory body: International Maritime Organization
Jurisdiction: 🌐 International
Document type: code
Effective date: July 1, 1998
Issuing authority: International Maritime Organization (IMO)
Industry: Maritime & Shipping
Official source: View source document ↗

Who this applies to

shipping companiesship operatorsvessel ownersmasters

Key requirements

safety management system
company responsibilities
designated person ashore
master authority
resources and personnel
shipboard operations
emergency preparedness
non-conformity reporting
maintenance
documentation
internal audits
certification

Frequently asked questions about ISM Code

What is ISM Code?

Who does ISM Code apply to?

ISM Code applies to shipping companies, ship operators, vessel owners, masters.

How many obligations does ISM Code contain?

AuditDSS has decomposed ISM Code into 107 atomic obligations from 13 rules. Each obligation is independently testable and risk-scored.

What are the key requirements of ISM Code?

The key requirements include: safety management system, company responsibilities, designated person ashore, master authority, resources and personnel, shipboard operations, emergency preparedness, non-conformity reporting, maintenance, documentation, internal audits, certification.

How can I assess my ISM Code compliance?

Upload your compliance policy to AuditDSS. The platform maps your document against all 107 ISM Code obligations using deterministic AI scoring — not checklists or LLM summaries. You get a risk-scored gap analysis showing exactly which obligations are covered, partially covered, or missing.

Which jurisdiction enforces ISM Code?

ISM Code is enforced in International by International Maritime Organization.

When did ISM Code come into effect?

ISM Code became effective on July 1, 1998.

What industry does ISM Code apply to?

ISM Code is primarily relevant to the Maritime & Shipping industry. AuditDSS covers 66 regulations in this industry sector.

Build a ISM Code compliance pack

Don't have a compliance policy yet? AuditDSS generates a complete compliance pack for ISM Code — alone or combined with other regulations your business needs. Every clause is mapped to specific obligations.

Policy

High-level commitments and governance framework covering ISM Code requirements.

Procedures

Step-by-step operational procedures to implement each policy commitment.

Forms & checklists

Ready-to-use forms, registers, and checklists for day-to-day compliance operations.

Multi-regulation

Combine ISM Code with other regulations into a single unified compliance pack for your business.

Build ISM Code compliance pack

Already have a policy? Assess it against ISM Code

Upload your document

Upload your compliance policy, program manual, or operational document. AuditDSS accepts any text-based document.

AI maps against 107 obligations

Your document is scored against every obligation in ISM Code. Each claim is mapped to the obligation tree and evaluated for coverage.

Risk-scored gap report

Receive every gap ranked by risk priority with remediation guidance, enforcement evidence, and cascade impact analysis.