Commonwealth Numbered Regulations - Explanatory Statements

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OCCUPATIONAL HEALTH AND SAFETY (MARITIME INDUSTRY) AMENDMENT REGULATIONS 1999 (NO. 1) 1999 NO. 101

Statutory Rules 1999 No. 101

Issued by the authority of the Minister for Employment, Workplace Relations and Small Business

Occupational Health and Safely Maritime Industry) Act 1993

Occupational Health and Safety (Maritime Industry) Amendment Regulations 1999 (No. 1)

Section 121 of the Occupational Health and Safely (Maritime Industry) Act 1993 (the Act) provides that the Governor-General may make regulations required or permitted by the Act to be made.

The Act aims to secure the health, safety and welfare of certain maritime industry employees and other persons at the workplace. A number of obligations are imposed on the operators of certain ships, employees and others, to minimise risks to workplace health and safety in the maritime industry.

Part 4 of the Act establishes an Inspectorate to ensure compliance with the obligations imposed by the Act and Regulations. Section 4 of the Act provides that the Australian Maritime Safety Authority (AMSA) is the Inspectorate under the Act. AMSA also provides advice to operators, employers and contractors about occupational health and safety matters and information to the Seafarers' Safety, Rehabilitation and Compensation Authority on request.

Section 107 of the Act requires operators to notify and report to AMSA about certain accidents and dangerous occurrences. Notices and reports are required to be provided in accordance with the regulations. The Occupational Health and Safety (Maritime Industry) Regulations (the Regulations) prescribe time periods, and forms to be used for the purposes of section 107 of the Act.

The Regulations replace the existing provisions with new time periods and forms for the notification and reporting of accidents and dangerous occurrences. The new provisions provide some consistency between the requirements imposed under the Act and those imposed by Marine Orders made pursuant to the Navigation Act 1912. The new forms simplify the reporting requirements that are imposed on the operators of the relevant ships when an accident or dangerous occurrence takes place.

Details of the Regulations are attached.

The Regulations commence on 1 July 1999.

ATTACHMENT

DETAILS OF THE OCCUPATIONAL HEALTH AND SAFETY (MARITIME INDUSTRY) AMENDMENT REGULATIONS 1999 (No. 1)

Regulation 1 -        Name of regulations

This is a formal provision that provides the name for the amending regulations.

Regulation 2 -        Commencement

This regulation provides that the amending regulations commence on 1 July 1999.

Regulation 3 -       Amendment of Occupational Heath and Safety (Maritime

Industry) Regulations

Regulation 3 is a formal provision which provides that the Occupational Heath and Safety (Maritime Industry) Regulations (the Regulations) are amended as set out in Schedule 1.

SCHEDULE 1        Amendments

Item 1 -        Regulation 1

This is a formal provision which changes the name of the Regulations by including the date '1995' in the name.

Item 2 -        Regulation 2, definitions of business hours and telecommunications

Regulation 2 contains definitions of terms used in the Regulations.

Item 2 removes the definitions of 'business hours' and 'telecommunications'. These are no longer necessary because item 3 removes the provision that made use of the two definitions (Regulation 13).

Item 3 -        Regulations 10, 11, 12, 13 and 14

Item 3 omits a number of regulations and substitutes new regulations.

New Regulation 10 provides a definition for Part 4 of the Regulations. An 'incident' is defined to include:

*       accidents that cause death or serious personal injury; and,

*       accidents that cause a person to be incapacitated for work for more than a prescribed period; and,

*       dangerous occurrences (a term that is defined in Regulation 4).

Subsection 107(1)(b) provides that notices and reports will be required for work accidents that result in incapacity for work for a prescribed period. Regulation 10 currently prescribes a period of 5 successive days or more for the purposes of subsection 107(1)(b). New Regulation 11 replicates the prescription of 5 successive days or more.

Regulations 11 and 12 currently set the time periods for notifying, and reporting on accidents and dangerous occurrences. Regulation 11 now requires the Australian Maritime Safety Authority (AMSA) to be notified:

*       within 2 hours of an operator becoming aware of the death of a person; and

*       within 24 hours of the operator becoming aware of a serious personal injury, incapacity or dangerous occurrence.

If it is not reasonably practicable to provide notice within this time frame, then the notice is required as soon as practicable. The information that must be included in the notice is currently set out in Regulation 14.

New Regulation 12 requires an operator to notify AMSA within 4 hours of becoming aware of an incident. If it is not reasonably practicable to give notice within 4 hours the notice is required as soon as practicable. The regulation provides that the notice must be in the form of an Incident Alert, set out in Form 6. This Form is inserted into the Schedule for the Regulations by Item 5 of Schedule 1 of these regulations.

Regulation 12 currently requires reports to be made to AMSA within 28 days of an accident or dangerous occurrence, or as soon as practicable. Reports are to be made in accordance with Form 6.

New Regulation 13 requires the operator to report to AMSA within 72 hours of an incident or, as soon as practicable. The regulation provides that the notice must be in the form of an Incident Report, set out in Form 7. This Form is inserted into the Schedule for the Regulations by Item 5 of Schedule 1 of these regulations

Item 4 -        Regulation 15

This item makes a minor amendment to Regulation 15 to make use of the definition of

'incident' which is included by item 3 of these regulations.

Item 5 -        Schedule, Form 6

This item removes the existing Form 6 (for the reporting of accidents and dangerous occurrences), and replace it with two new Forms:

*       Form 6 - Incident Alert (referred to in new Regulation 12); and,

*       Form 7 - Incident Report (referred to in new Regulation 13).