Amended regulations for offshore safety

HSE Press Release E173:02 - 16 September 2002

New regulations that amend the Offshore Installations and Pipeline Works (Management and Administration) Regulations 1995 (MAR) come into force on 17 September. They will ensure that all parts of an offshore installation are within the scope of appropriate health and safety legislation.

The amendments are relatively minor but the new Regulations were required to ensure that offshore health and safety law is appropriately applied and that the definitions of an offshore installation in MAR and in other offshore legislation, such as the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974 (Application Outside Great Britain) Order 2001, are consistent. Because of new developments in technology offshore the definition of what is an offshore installation needed to be extended to include supplementary units. Such units provide power and other support facilities for offshore installations and can be powered by wind or wave or by conventional means.

Revised guidance to support the amended Offshore Installations and Pipeline Works (Management and Administration) Regulations 1995 is due to be published in late September or early October, and is intended to help people who may be affected by the Regulations to understand what the Regulations require. It is a simple explanation of the main provisions of the Regulations to assist installation operators, installation owners, employers, managers, safety representatives, safety committee members and others involved with offshore activities. The guidance has been revised to reflect the new definition of what is an offshore installation. The guidance also reflects other changes made since it was first published in 1995 including; defining when a well service vessel (WSV) becomes an offshore installation and clarifying the position of specialist support vessels which provide accommodation (flotels).

Notes to editors

1. The Offshore Safety (Miscellaneous Amendments) Regulations 2002 (SI 2002/2175) will be available from the Stationery Office.

2. The revised 'A guide to the offshore Installations and Pipeline Works (Management and Administration) Regulations 1995' can be ordered online at http://books.hse.gov.uk.

3. The Offshore Safety (Miscellaneous Amendments) Regulations (SI 2002/2175) come into force on 17 September and bring MAR in line with the changes implemented by the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974 (Application Outside Great Britain) Order 2001 (The Order). The Order extended the definition of 'offshore installation' to include supplementary units. When a supplementary unit is attached to a well it becomes part of any offshore installation to which the well is linked. Supplementary units may be powered conventionally or by wind, wave, tide or current and provide power, control, communications and chemical injection facilities to offshore installations.

4. The revised edition of 'A guide to the Offshore Installations and Pipeline Works (Management and Administration) Regulations 1995' is due to be published in late September or early October.

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