The National Maritime Safety Association (NMSA) is a collaboration of maritime leaders and safety personnel throughout North America and U.S. territories who gather with the goal of protecting health and safety of all those in the marine cargo handling industry.

In 1970, the OSH Act was passed and became effective on April 28, 1971. With the passage of the Act, the MAXIE organization was restructured, and, in July 1972, NMSA was formed for the purpose of representing the maritime industry in safety and health activities.

The National Maritime Safety Association (NMSA) is the successor organization to the Management Advisory Cargo Handling Safety Committee (MAXIE), which was organized in 1956 to assist the Department of Labor in connection with the promulgation of safety and health regulations for longshoring as set forth in Public Law 85-742. 72 Stat. 835, which amended the Longshore and Harbor Workers’ Compensation Act (33 U.S.C. 941) (LHWCA).

NMSA is directing maritime safety guidance under the support of NMSA’s Board of Directors and the collective operations of the association’s Technical Committee (TC). The TC is a focused group of safety professionals tasked with monitoring, analyzing, and disseminating any information that affects occupational safety & health in maritime transportation. Committee members continuously gather information from numerous sources including the Federal Register, Department of Labor/OSHA, Maritime Advisory Committee for Occupational Safety & Health (MACOSH), Department of Transportation/PHMSA, EPA, International Maritime Organization (IMO), partnering subject matter experts, and fellow NMSA members with unique expertise.