The effectiveness of maritime safety policy instruments from the Finnish maritime experts’ point of view – case Gulf of Finland and prevention of an oil accident

Sea accidents are aimed to be prevented with an extensive amount of maritime safety regulation. The purpose of this paper is to present the findings of a questionnaire study that was targeted at Finnish maritime experts and addressed the question: how to prevent an oil accident in the Gulf of Finland. This study also includes a literature study about the problems of the current maritime safety regime. The findings of the questionnaire study are compared to the findings of the literature study. The questionnaire study showed that many kinds of policies have improved maritime safety, and they are needed to ensure maritime safety. For instance, ship construction, fairway maintenance, nautical charts and rules of the road at sea can be considered the cornerstones of maritime safety. However, the results ranked voluntary activities of companies as the most effective way to improve maritime safety in the future. Self-regulative approaches could solve some problems connected to more traditional policy-making.