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

• Permanent Page URL

PART IV

Accidents etc.

Notice of certain accidents to be given to Minister and Minister for Energy.

27.—(1) In case there is an accident or other occurrence either on, in or in the neighbourhood of an offshore installation to which this Act applies resulting in or causing loss of life or death or causing bodily injury of a kind prescribed for the purposes of this section, the installation manager concerned shall ensure that written notice of the accident is given forthwith to both the Minister and the Minister for Energy, and the said notice shall be in a form which for the time being stands approved of for the purposes of this subsection by the Minister.

(2) Where any accident or other occurrence causing disablement is notified under this section and after the notification results in the death of the person disabled, notice in writing of the death shall be given to the Minister by the installation manager concerned as soon as may be after the death comes to his knowledge.

(3) Where an accident or other occurrence which is notifiable under subsection (1) of this section occurs, the installation manager concerned shall make in the relevant installation logbook and sign an entry of the following particulars, namely:

(a) the date and time of the accident or occurrence,

(b) the location of the relevant offshore installation at the time when, or the locality in which, the accident or other occurrence occurred in so far as, with reasonable diligence, such locality or location can be ascertained at the time the entry is made,

(c) the place (on the relevant offshore installation or elsewhere, as the case may be) where the accident or other occurrence occurred,

(d) the name, and if known to such manager the address and occupation, of any person lost or killed or who suffered in the accident or other occurrence any bodily injury prescribed for the purposes of this section, together with the name and address of his employer and a description of any bodily injury suffered by the person (including an injury resulting in death) in so far as such injury can with such diligence be ascertained,

(e) a description of the accident or other occurrence (including particulars of any operation in the course of which theaccident occurred and any equipment in relation to the use of which the accident occurred),

(f) a description of any damage sustained by the offshore installation concerned or by any equipment of any vessel involved in the accident or other occurrence, in so far as such damage can with such diligence be ascertained, together with the name and port or place of registry of any such vessel,

(g) the name and address of every witness to the accident or other occurrence and the name and address of his employer (if any) in so far as such particulars can be so ascertained, and

(h) such other particulars (if any) in so far as they can be so ascertained, as shall for the time being stand prescribed for the purposes of this subsection.

(4) (a) Where an accident or other occurrence which is notifiable under subsection (1) of this section occurs on an offshore installation, no person shall disturb the place where it occurred or tamper with anything thereat before—

(i) the expiration of the period beginning when the accident or other occurrence occurs and ending on the second day after the day immediately following that on which written notice of the accident or other occurrence is sent to the Minister pursuant to the requirement of subsection (1) of this section, or

(ii) that place has been both visited by an inspector and inspected by him in exercise of the powers conferred on him by this Act.

(b) Nothing in this subsection shall prohibit the doing of anything by or with the consent of an inspector.

(5) (a) Where a coroner holds an inquest as regards any person whose death may have been caused by an accident or other occurrence which is notifiable under subsection (1) of this section, subject to paragraph (b) of this subsection, the provisions contained in paragraphs (a) to (f) of section 77 of the Factories Act, 1955 , shall apply to the inquest.

(b) Section 77 of the Factories Act, 1955 , as applied by this subsection, shall have effect as if—

(i) the references therein to an inspector were references to an inspector within the meaning of this Act,

(ii) the references in paragraph (c) to the factory in or about which the accident or disease occurred and in subparagraphs (iv) and (v) of paragraph (e) and in paragraph (f) to the factory shall each be construed as a reference to the offshore installation on, in or in the neighbourhood of which the accident or other occurrence occurred,

and

(iii) the references in subparagraphs (iii) and (vi) of paragraph (e) to the occupier of a factory were each references to the owner of such offshore installation.