American Steamship Company is committed to providing a safe and healthy workplace for all employees. This commitment is stressed in our policies, as well as the day-to-day operations of our fleet and ashore. Working safely is a condition of employment at ASC – the safety and health of our employees and the communities we serve takes priority over everything else.
Examples of our commitment to employee safety include our decision to equip all vessels with lifesaving Automatic External Defibrillators (AEDs), which are critical in the event of a cardiac related emergency, and 24-hour on-call doctor service available to all our vessels.
In addition, ASC makes available annual training for all crewmembers. Licensed and experienced trainers ride each vessel and provide hands-on training and certifications in classes such as American Heart CPR/AED, American Heart First Aid, Oxygen Therapy, Trauma, Airway and Ventilation, Blood Pressure, Stroke, Diabetes, Medical Emergencies, Spinal Immobilization and Patient Packaging.
American Steamship Company Mariners train for the worst-case scenario... a shipboard fire. Instruction is given in Marine Firefighting, Self-Contained Breathing Apparatus (SCBA), Portable Fire Extinguishers, and Marine Confined Space Entry. Every month, practical scenarios and drills take place on board using the Fire Incident Command System, which stresses safety and accountability while fighting a shipboard fire. Drills are also conducted in Marine Confined Space and Hazardous Materials (Non-Tank Vessel Response Plan).
Day-to-day employee safety, health, and environmental issues are a top priority. To that end, our Company employs a safety professional who is board-certified by the Board of Certified Safety Professionals (BCSP) as a full-time environmental, health and safety professional tasked with ensuring EHS issues receive the highest priority.
The ASC safety program is based on a five-pronged quality approach:
Vessel personnel and corporate safety staff inspect and review policies, procedures, facilities, and equipment on a regular and thorough basis.
ASC believes its employees are the Company's most precious resource and as such, conducts an aggressive employee input-based safety and health program. We believe this is a smart business decision and the right thing to do. Employee professionalism and top-level commitment to safety and health have made ASC's safety program the best on the Great Lakes.
