The Merchant Shipping and Fishing Vessels (Health and Safety at Work) Regulations 1997

Duties of safety officers

16.—(1) Subject to paragraph (2), it shall be the duty of the safety officer to use his best endeavours to—

(a) improve the standard of safety consciousness among the crew and ensure that the provisions of the Code and safety instructions, rules and guidance for the ship relating to health and safety are complied with;

(b) investigate, so far as is reasonably practicable,

(i) every accident involving death, major or serious injury and every dangerous occurrence as defined in the Merchant Shipping (Accident Investigation and Reporting) Regulations 1994(1),

(ii) all potential hazards to health and safety, and

(iii) all reasonable complaints by workers about health and safety,

and making recommendations to the master to prevent the recurrence of such an accident or to remove any hazard, provided that the duty to investigate shall not extend to accidents arising from a casualty to the ship;

(c) ensure that health and safety inspections of each accessible part of the ship are carried out at least once every three months and more frequently if there have been substantial changes in the conditions of work;

(d) make representations and, where appropriate, recommendations to the master, about any deficiency in the ship in respect of—

(i) any legislative requirement relating to health and safety,

(ii) any relevant Merchant Shipping Notice, or

(iii) any provision of the Code,

and also suggest whether those representations and recommendations should be passed by the master on to the employer or other person who has control of the matter;

(e) maintain a record of every accident involving death, major or serious injury and every dangerous occurrence, and make it available on request to any elected representative, to the master and to any person duly authorised by the Secretary of State;

(f) stop any work which he observes in progress and reasonably believes may cause a serious accident, and immediately inform the master or the master’s deputy who shall decide when work can safety be resumed.

(2) Nothing in this regulation shall require a safety officer to take any action at a time when emergency action to safeguard life or the ship is being taken.

(1)

S.I. 1994/2013.