The Merchant Shipping (Accident Reporting and Investigation) Regulations 2012

Conduct of a safety investigation

11.—(1) If the Chief Inspector decides in accordance with regulation 8(2) and (4) and (5) that a safety investigation must be carried out, it must be undertaken by one or more inspectors at such times and places and in such manner as appear to them most conducive to achieving the objective set out in regulation 5.

(2) The Chief Inspector may also appoint one or more persons who are not inspectors appointed under the Act for the purpose of carrying out an investigation in circumstances where inspectors appointed under the Act are not conveniently available or where the persons appointed have special qualifications or experience, and such persons will have the powers conferred on an inspector by sections 259 and 267(8) of the Act.

(3) A safety investigation may extend to cover, but need not be limited to—

(a) all events and circumstances preceding the accident together with subsequent events and circumstances;

(b) issues involving salvage and pollution connected with the accident;

(c) the conduct of search and rescue operations,

if in the opinion of the Chief Inspector they are relevant to future safety.

(4) Every person required to attend before an inspector must be allowed the reasonable expenses of attending, payable by the Secretary of State.

(5) Any person, not being a solicitor or other professional legal adviser acting solely on behalf of the person required to attend, who—

(a) has been allowed by an inspector to be present; or

(b) has been nominated to be present by a person required to attend,

at a witness interview before an inspector , may at any time be excluded from being present by the inspector with the agreement of the Chief Inspector, if—

(i) both the inspector and Chief Inspector have substantial reason to believe that the person’s presence would hamper the investigation with the result that the objective in regulation 5 is likely to be hindered and future safety thereby endangered; and

(ii) the Chief Inspector is satisfied, having regard to all the circumstances, that it is proper to exclude that person.

(6) Where a person nominated to be present has been excluded in accordance with paragraph (5), the person required to attend may be entitled to nominate another person to be present at the witness interview in place of the excluded person and paragraph (5) applies to that other person.

(7) Any document, record or information mentioned in regulation 10, properly required by an inspector to be produced for the purposes of a safety investigation (whether on board the ship involved or otherwise) may be retained by the inspector until the safety investigation is completed.

(8) In relation to any preliminary assessment which the Chief Inspector has conducted under regulation 7 the Chief Inspector must decide, having regard to the objective set out in regulation 5, whether it is appropriate in the circumstances to conduct a safety investigation leading to the publication of a report.

(9) Subject to paragraph (10), the Chief Inspector may subsequently decide to discontinue a safety investigation of any accident (whether or not it involves a vessel covered by the Directive) at any time and must make any reasons publicly available.

(10) Paragraph (9) will not apply to the safety investigation of an accident involving a vessel covered by the Directive that is—

(a) a very serious marine casualty; or

(b) a serious marine casualty, where following a preliminary assessment undertaken in accordance with regulation 7(1) and (2) a decision is made to conduct a safety investigation.

(11) When the Chief Inspector is conducting a safety investigation into an accident the Chief Inspector must take into account the provisions of the IMO guidelines on the fair treatment of seafarers.

(12) An inspector may record a witness interview of any person who is assisting a safety investigation carried out in accordance with these Regulations in any manner that the Chief Inspector considers reasonable.

(13) When the Chief Inspector is requested to assist another member State in a safety investigation in which the United Kingdom is not involved then the costs of any such assistance provided must be agreed between them.