Safety, Health and Welfare (Offshore Installations) Act, 1987

Application of Act.

3.—(1) This Act applies to any offshore installation which is in waters to which this Act applies.

(2) This Act applies to the following waters, namely, the waters inthe portion of the sea which comprises the territorial seas of the State, the waters in all the areas of the sea to which the internal or inland waters of the State are extended by section 5 of the Maritime Jurisdiction Act, 1959 , and the waters in any area which is for the time being a designated area within the meaning of section 1 of the Act of 1968.

(3) (a) The provisions of sections 23 , 24 and 25 of this Act shall apply only to offshore installations which are of a prescribed class or description or which for the time being are operating in prescribed circumstances, and without prejudice to the generality of the foregoing, for the purposes of this subsection a class or description may be prescribed by reference to any one or more of the following, namely:

(i) amounts of work involved, or likely to be involved, in relation to exploration or exploitation of a particular description,

(ii) numbers employed or expected to be employed on, in or in the neighbourhood of offshore installations either generally or during a particular period,

(iii) the period during which offshore installations are expected to be engaged in exploration or exploitation.

(b) Regulations under this subsection may provide that for so long as the number of persons, other than the installation manager, employed on an offshore installation to which regulations under this subsection would otherwise apply does not exceed a prescribed number, the provisions of the said sections 23 , 24 and 25 shall not apply to the installation.