On 1 January this year, Mr Jungkun Lee was appointed Chair of the IACS Safety Panel. In this Q&A we ask Mr Lee about the Safety Panel and its relationship with marine insurers and find out a little about the man himself.
For those not familiar with the IACS Safety Panel, can you explain its primary role?
Within the IACS organisation, there are currently seven panels, each serving as a technical working group covering specific areas of classification society activities.
Within this structure, the Safety Panel is responsible for addressing all technical matters, other than those covered by the other panels, with a particular focus on safety-related issues governed by international instruments, such as conventions and regulations developed by the IMO and the ILO.
In practice, this means supporting the consistent interpretation and application of international safety requirements across the classification system, while identifying and addressing emerging safety concerns affecting the global fleet.
What does being Chair of the Safety Panel involve?
The role of Chair is to ensure that technical issues raised both within and outside IACS are effectively addressed through the panel framework. This includes coordinating panel discussions, overseeing the development, maintenance and revision of IACS Resolutions, leading the preparation and submission of technical documents to the IMO and reviewing and responding to agenda items of the IMO Maritime Safety Committee (MSC) and its relevant Sub-Committees.
An important part of the role is also to help prioritise issues, ensure technical consistency across Members and support the development of practical, implementable outcomes.
In addition, two panel meetings are convened each year to facilitate in-depth, face-to-face technical discussions among Members on complex matters that cannot be adequately addressed through correspondence alone.
What is top of the Safety Panel’s current agenda?
The Safety Panel is currently addressing a number of priority issues.
In particular, long-standing Port State Control concerns related to the arrangement of escape trunks in machinery spaces have been a key area of focus, alongside the submission of relevant IACS Unified Interpretations to the IMO and the associated approval processes by Administrations.
These issues are significant because they directly affect compliance outcomes and operational consistency across different jurisdictions.
In addition, fire safety measures for container ships, which are also being addressed in depth within the Sub-Committee on Ship Systems and Equipment (SSE), constitute another major agenda item for the panel.
What impact has the Safety Panel had on international shipping in recent years?
The panel has consistently sought to identify challenges and issues raised by a wide range of stakeholders across the global maritime industry and to provide timely and appropriate assistance and solutions where needed. Such efforts have included responding to individual technical queries, developing and issuing IACS Unified Interpretations or Recommendations, and raising issues through the IMO with the objective of achieving meaningful and practical outcomes.
Although much of this work takes place outside the public spotlight, the panel continues to work diligently in support of maritime stakeholders facing safety-related challenges.
Can you explain the relationship between the Safety Panel and marine insurers?
While both our panel and insurers address the common theme of “safety,” they do so from slightly different perspectives. Insurers naturally take safety into account; however, their ultimate objective is the reduction of accidents by improving the safety of the insured interests (for example, the hull or cargo), thereby minimising the occurrence of insurance claims.
However, the IACS Safety Panel is required to receive and consider safety-related inputs not only from insurers, but also from governments, shipowners, shipyards, seafarers, and manufacturers of shipboard equipment. In doing so, the panel must take into account a broad range of causes and impacts when considering appropriate solutions.
Nevertheless, based on their experience and statistical data, insurers play an important role at the forefront of maritime safety as early identifiers of specific areas of deficiency, providing valuable input that helps guide the IACS Safety Panel’s attention towards issues that warrant consideration and resolution.
On a personal level, how did your career take you to an involvement with the IACS Safety Panel and why do you do it?
In my twenties, I served for several years as a deck officer in the merchant fleet. At that time, I was very much a follower, required to comply with and adhere to numerous safety regulations.
Subsequently, after joining KR, I have spent almost twenty-five years in the role of an implementer: interpreting safety-related regulations and developing guidance for their practical application, in support of both our clients and surveyors.
Building on these experiences, I now feel that I have been given a truly significant and much-appreciated opportunity to move beyond the stages of being merely a follower or an implementer of safety rules. Through the IACS Safety Panel, I am now able to contribute to more in-depth and strategic work for the IACS as a whole, including the planning, coordination, review and reassessment of safety regulations embodied in classification rules and international conventions, as well as to engage in important activities aimed at understanding and meeting the expectations of IACS’s internal and external stakeholders.
What do you like to do away from the office?
I’m something of a homebody. I usually enjoy watching films or reading books at home, and I also enjoy taking walks, sometimes simply switching off and letting my thoughts settle.
Until a few years ago, I enjoyed building scale models of cars, aircraft, ships and even robots. However, as my eyesight has declined, I now find myself losing tiny parts while cutting them and not being able to find them again, so I have mostly stopped.
