Explanatory Note
(This note is not part of the Regulations)
These Regulations provide for the preparation of safety cases for offshore installations and for the notification of specified activities to the Health and Safety Executive (“the Executive”).
A safety case is defined in the Regulations as a document containing specified information relating to the management of health and safety and the control of major accident hazards and containing the particulars specified in the Schedule referred to in the provision of the Regulations under which it is prepared (regulations 2(2) and 8).
The Regulations—
(a)require a safety case to be sent to the Executive before the completion of the design of a fixed installation (regulation 4(1) and Schedule 1);
(b)prohibit the operation of a fixed installation unless a safety case has been sent to and accepted by the Executive (regulation 4(2) and Schedule 2);
(c)prohibit the movement of a mobile installation in relevant waters (as defined in regulation 2(1)) with a view to its being operated there unless a safety case has been sent to and accepted by the Executive (regulation 5 and Schedule 3);
(d)prohibit the engagement of an installation in a combined operation with another unless a safety case has been sent to and accepted by the Executive (regulation 6 and Schedule 4);
(e)prohibit the decommissioning of a fixed installation unless a safety case has been sent to and accepted by the Executive (regulation 7 and Schedule 5) ;
(f)require a safety case to be revised as often as may be appropriate and at 3 yearly intervals, such revision to be accepted by the Executive where it is made at the 3 yearly interval or where it renders the safety case materially different from the last version sent to the Executive (regulation 9);
(g)require any procedures or arrangements in safety cases to be followed and provide for specified defences for contravention of the requirement (regulation 10);
(h)require well operations and specified construction activities to be notified to the Executive, such notifications to contain specified particulars (regulations 11 and 12 and Schedules 6 and 7);
(i)contain transitional provisions in respect of activities in existence or com menced within a specified time of the coming into force of the Regulations (regulation 13);
(j)impose requirements on specified persons to co-operate with the operator and owner of an offshore installation to enable them to comply with the provisions of the Regulations (regulation 14);
(k)impose requirements with respect to the making and keeping of documents (regulation 15);
(l)amend the Offshore Installations (Safety Representatives and Safety Commit tees) Regulations 1989 (S.I. 1989/971) as respects a safety representative’s entitlement to see and be supplied with documents and information, and amend those Regulations so as to require safety representatives to be consulted on the preparation of safety cases (regulation 16 and Schedule 8);
(m)provide for the granting of exemptions from the Regulations by the Executive (regulation 17).