4-day training on the International Safety Management (ISM) Code requested by the Black and Caspian Sea regions Project’s beneficiary Azerbaijan was held in the capital Baku on 12 – 15 November 2019 at the State Maritime Administration’s premises.

The ISM Code is a mandatory international standard for the safe management and operation of ships. It sets the requirements for a company management system with regard to safety and pollution prevention, including the development and implementation of a Safety Management System (SMS).

In this way, the 14 participants were familiarized with the evolution of management systems and the ISM Code, the general requirements, types and scopes of flag State audits, the performance of flag State audits in office and in particular on board ships – preparation and planning, conducting and following-up, the formalities and reporting procedures covering the flag State audits, the implementation of corrective or preventive actions as a result of flag State audits, the certification process, as well as with the role and qualification of flag State auditors.

Furthermore, a practical approach to auditing techniques involved the participants in simulated flag State audits creating high interest on behalf of the trainees.