Regulation 2 Interpretation

For the purposes of these Regulations and of section 33 of the Act, “accident” means any contingency whereby:—

In these Regulations

• “Chief Inspector” means the Chief Inspector of Marine Accidents appointed by the Secretary of State under section 33(1) of the Act, and any deputy Chief Inspector;

• “disabled” means not under command for a period of more than 12 hours, or for any lesser period if, as a result, the vessel needs assistance to reach port;

• “grounding” means making involuntary contact with the ground, except for touching briefly so that no damage is caused, and “goes aground” shall be construed accordingly;

• “hazardous incident” means any incident or event, not being an accident as defined in regulation 2(1), by which the safety of a ship or any person on board is imperilled, or as a result of which serious damage to any ship or structure or damage to the environment might be caused;

• “inspector” means an inspector of marine accidents appointed by the Secretary of State and in the context of the investigation of a particular accident includes any person appointed to investigate that accident under regulation 6 below;

• “Inspector’s Inquiry” means an investigation ordered under regulation 6(2);

• “investigation” means any investigation carried out by an inspector, including but not limited to an Inspector’s Inquiry;

• “major injury” has the same meaning as in the Merchant Shipping (Safety Officials and Reporting of Accidents and Dangerous Occurrences) Regulations 1982^f1;

• “pleasure craft” means a vessel primarily used for sport or recreation;

• “serious casualty” means an accident to a ship causing loss of life, or total loss of a ship of more than 50 metres registered length;

• “ship’s boat” includes a liferaft, painting punt and any boat normally carried by a ship;

• “strands” means goes aground and cannot immediately re-float;

• “United Kingdom ship” means a ship registered in the United Kingdom.

Where a ship is managed by a person other than her owner (whether on behalf of the owner or some other person, or on his own behalf), a reference in these Regulations to the owner shall be construed as including a reference to that person.