PART 1 | Citation and commencement |
| 1. These Regulations are the Transport Safety Investigations (Marine Occurrences) Regulations 2023 and come into operation on 1 January 2024. |
2.—(1) In these Regulations —| “agent” means any person engaged on behalf of the owner, charterer or operator of a ship, or the owner of the cargo on board a ship, in providing shipping services, including managing arrangements for the ship being the subject of a marine safety investigation; |
| “appropriate foreign authority” includes an investigation authority designated by a region of States (not including Singapore) as responsible for transport safety investigations which correspond to investigations that must be carried out by the TSIB into marine accidents, and to the functions of the TSIB, under the Act; |
“cause”, as a noun in relation to any marine occurrence, means any action, omission, event, condition, or a combination thereof, without which —| (a) | the marine occurrence would not have occurred; | | (b) | the adverse consequences associated with the marine occurrence would probably not have occurred or have been as serious; or | | (c) | there would not have been the occurrence of another action, omission, event or condition that is associated with an outcome described in paragraph (a) or (b); |
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| “coastal State” means a State in whose territory (which includes its territorial sea) a marine casualty or marine incident happens; |
“exclusive economic zone”, of a State, means —| (a) | the exclusive economic zone of that State established in accordance with international law as an area within which the State may exercise sovereign rights or jurisdiction with regards to the sea, the seabed, the subsoil and the natural resources; or | | (b) | if a State has not established such a zone, the area beyond and adjacent to the territorial sea of that State determined by that State in accordance with international law and extending not more than 200 nautical miles from the baselines from which the breadth of its territorial sea is measured; |
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| “fatal ship‑related injury” has the meaning given by regulation 4(3); |
| “flag State” means the State whose flag a ship is entitled to fly; |
| “IMO” means the International Maritime Organization; |
| “interested party” means a person who is determined by the marine safety investigating State to have significant interests, rights or legitimate expectations with respect to the outcome of a marine safety investigation; |
| “marine casualty” has the meaning given by regulation 4(1); |
| “marine incident” has the meaning given by regulation 4(5); |
“marine safety investigating State”, for a marine casualty or marine incident, means —| (a) | the flag State of any ship involved in the marine casualty or marine incident; or | | (b) | the State or States taking responsibility for the conduct of the marine safety investigation into the marine casualty or marine incident as mutually agreed between them; |
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“marine safety investigation” means —| (a) | an investigation under the Act into a marine casualty or marine incident; or | | (b) | a transport safety investigation by an appropriate foreign authority into a marine casualty or marine incident with a view to preventing similar occurrences in the future rather than to ascribe blame to any person, comprising —| (i) | the collection of, and analysis of, evidence; | | (ii) | the identification of the cause or causes of the marine casualty or marine incident; and | | (iii) | the making of safety recommendations as necessary; |
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| “pilot”, in relation to a ship, means an individual who does not belong to, but has the conduct of, the ship; |
“safety recommendation” means a proposal that is —| (a) | made —| (i) | under regulation 23 by the Director in relation to an investigation under the Act; or | | (ii) | where Singapore is not the marine safety investigating State — by an appropriate foreign authority of the marine safety investigating State conducting the marine safety investigation; |
| | (b) | made for the purpose of preventing marine occurrences; and | | (c) | not made for the purpose of creating a presumption of blame or liability for any marine occurrence, |
| being a proposal based on information derived from the investigation or from other information (such as safety studies); |
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| “section 12(1) report” means a report about a marine occurrence that is an immediately reportable matter required by section 12(1) of the Act to be reported, and includes a notification given by any appropriate foreign authority of a Substantially Interested State to the Director in relation to such a marine occurrence; |
| “section 12(2) report” means a report about a marine occurrence that is an ordinary reportable matter required by section 12(2) of the Act to be reported, and includes a notification given by any appropriate foreign authority of a Substantially Interested State to the Director in relation to such a marine occurrence; |
| “serious ship‑related injury” has the meaning given by regulation 4(4); |
| “severe damage to the environment” means damage or harm to the marine environment or the coastline of one or more countries (including the environment of their waters and territories recognised under international law) that requires emergency action or other immediate response; |
“Substantially Interested State”, in relation to a marine casualty or marine incident, means any State that is —| (a) | the flag State of a ship that is involved in the marine casualty or marine incident; | | (b) | the coastal State where the marine casualty or marine incident took place; | | (c) | a State that suffered severe damage or significant damage to its environment as a result of the marine casualty or marine incident; | | (d) | a State where serious harm was caused, or threatened to be caused, to the State or to artificial islands, installations or structures over which the State is entitled to exercise jurisdiction, as a consequence of the marine casualty or marine incident; | | (e) | a State with at least one citizen that suffered a fatal ship‑related injury or serious ship‑related injury as a direct result of the marine casualty or marine incident; | | (f) | a State that is in possession of information that a marine safety investigating State considers useful to the marine safety investigation; or | | (g) | a State that establishes an interest that is considered significant by the marine safety investigating State for a reason other than the reasons described in paragraphs (a) to (f); |
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| “territorial sea” means the territorial sea as defined by section 2 of Part II of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea; |
| “United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea” means the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea done at Montego Bay and adopted on 10 December 1982 by the Third United Nations Conference on the Law of the Sea; |
| “very serious marine casualty” has the meaning given by regulation 7(2); |
“vessel traffic service provider” means the person charged by or under written law with —| (a) | regulating and controlling navigation within the limits of the port and the approaches to the port; or | | (b) | disseminating navigational information. |
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(2) In these Regulations —| (a) | references to the territory of Singapore include references to the territorial sea and exclusive economic zone of Singapore; and | | (b) | references to the territory of any other country include references to the territorial sea and exclusive economic zone of that country. |
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(3) For the purposes of these Regulations, “serious injury” means —| (a) | any fracture other than to a finger, thumb or toe; | | (b) | any loss of a limb or part of a limb; | | (c) | dislocation of the shoulder, hip, knee or spine; | | (d) | loss of sight, whether temporary or permanent; | | (e) | penetrating injury to the eye; | | (f) | loss of hearing in any one ear, whether temporary or permanent; | | (g) | any other injury —| (i) | leading to hypothermia or unconsciousness; or | | (ii) | requires resuscitation; or |
| | (h) | any other injury which reduces the individual’s ability for any period to engage in any employment, trade or vocation in which the individual was ordinarily engaged at the time of the injury, being a period that —| (i) | starts no later than the 7th day after the date the individual sustained the injury; and | | (ii) | lasts for more than 72 hours after starting. |
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| Meaning of “accident” associated with operation of ship |
3. An accident associated with the operation of a ship is an accident for the purposes of the definition of “accident” in section 2 of the Act, if it involves circumstances that make it —| (a) | a marine casualty; or | | (b) | a marine incident. |
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| Meaning of “marine casualty” and associated definitions |
4.—(1) In these Regulations, “marine casualty” means a marine occurrence or other occurrence associated with the operation of a ship where any of the following happens directly as a result of that occurrence: | (a) | an individual suffers a fatal ship‑related injury; | | (b) | an individual suffers a serious ship‑related injury; | | (c) | the loss of an individual from the ship; | | (d) | the ship is lost, or presumed lost or abandoned; | | (e) | the ship sustains material damage; | | (f) | the stranding or disabling of the ship, or the involvement of the ship in a collision; | | (g) | material damage to marine infrastructure external to the ship that could seriously endanger the safety of the ship, another ship or an individual; | | (h) | severe damage to the environment, or the potential for severe damage to the environment, as a result of damage of the ship. |
(2) For the purposes of paragraph (1), “material damage” —| (a) | for a ship, means damage —| (i) | that —| (A) | significantly affects the structural integrity, performance or operational characteristics of the ship; and | | (B) | requires major repair to or the replacement of at least one major component of the ship; or |
| | (ii) | that involves the total destruction of the ship; or |
| | (b) | for a marine infrastructure, means damage —| (i) | that —| (A) | significantly affects the structural integrity, performance or operational characteristics of the marine infrastructure; and | | (B) | requires major repair to or the replacement of at least one major component of the marine infrastructure; or |
| | (ii) | that involves the total destruction of the marine infrastructure. |
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(3) For the purposes of paragraph (1), an individual suffers a fatal ship‑related injury in relation to the operation of a ship if —| (a) | he or she suffers an injury as a result of —| (i) | activities associated with the ship during its operation; or | | (ii) | direct contact during the operation of the ship with any part of the ship, including parts which have become detached from the ship; |
| | (b) | he or she dies as a result of the injury within 30 days after sustaining the injury; and | | (c) | none of the following applies:| (i) | the injury results from natural causes; | | (ii) | the injury is intentionally self‑inflicted; | | (iii) | the injury is intentionally caused by another person. |
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(4) For the purposes of paragraph (1), an individual suffers a serious ship‑related injury in relation to the operation of a ship if —| (a) | he or she suffers an injury as a result of —| (i) | activities associated with the ship during its operation; or | | (ii) | direct contact during the operation of the ship with any part of the ship, including parts which have become detached from the ship; |
| | (b) | the injury results in the individual’s total or partial inability to function normally, which —| (i) | starts no later than the 7th day after the date the individual sustained the injury; and | | (ii) | lasts for more than 72 hours after starting; |
| | (c) | the injury is a serious injury; and | | (d) | none of the following applies:| (i) | the injury results from natural causes; | | (ii) | the injury is intentionally self‑inflicted; | | (iii) | the injury is intentionally caused by another person. |
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(5) In these Regulations, “marine incident” means a marine occurrence or other occurrence associated with the operation of a ship that —| (a) | is not a marine casualty; but | | (b) | endangered, or would endanger if not corrected, the safety of the ship, its occupants or any other individual or the environment. |
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| (6) However, despite paragraphs (1) and (5), any act or omission, any series of acts or omissions, or both, with the intention to cause harm to the safety of a ship, an individual or the environment, must be disregarded for the purposes of the definitions of “marine casualty” and “marine incident”. |
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5.—(1) The following international agreements are identified for the purposes of section 10(1) of the Act:| (a) | the following provisions of the International Convention for the Safety of Life at Sea, done at London on 1 November 1974, and any amendment to those provisions which has come into force and is accepted by the Government:| (i) | Regulation 21 of Chapter I of the Annex to the Convention; | | (ii) | Regulation 6 of Chapter XI‑1 of the Annex to the Convention; |
| | (b) | Article 23 of the International Convention on Load Lines, done at London on 5 April 1966, as modified by the Protocol of 1988 relating to it; | | (c) | Article 94(7) of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea; | | (d) | Articles 8 and 12 of the International Convention for the Prevention of Pollution from Ships (including its protocols, annexes and appendices) which constitutes attachment 1 to the final act of the International Conference on Marine Pollution signed in London on 2 November 1973, as modified and added to by the Protocol of 1978 relating to that Convention, which constitutes attachment 2 to the final act of the International Conference on Tanker Safety and Pollution Prevention signed in London on 17 February 1978. |
(2) The following are identified for the purposes of section 10(2) of the Act: | (a) | Part III of the Code of the International Standards and Recommended Practices for a Safety Investigation into a Marine Casualty or Marine Incident, adopted by resolution MSC.255(84) of the Maritime Safety Committee of the Assembly of the IMO on 16 May 2008, and any amendment thereto which has come into force and is accepted by the Government; | | (b) | Guidelines to assist investigators in the implementation of the Casualty Investigation Code (resolution MSC.255(84)), adopted on 4 December 2013. |
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