{
  "url": "https://openlegislation.uk/merchant-shipping-accident-investigationregulations-1989/regulation-2",
  "json_url": "https://openlegislation.uk/merchant-shipping-accident-investigationregulations-1989/regulation-2.json",
  "legislation": "uksi/1989/1172",
  "legislation_title": "The Merchant Shipping (Accident Investigation)Regulations 1989",
  "legislation_url": "https://openlegislation.uk/merchant-shipping-accident-investigationregulations-1989",
  "path": "regulation/2",
  "kind": "regulation",
  "number": "2",
  "heading": "Interpretation",
  "text": "(1) For the purposes of these Regulations and of section 33 of the Act, “accident” means any contingency whereby:—\n(a) there is loss of life or major injury to any person on board, or any person is lost from, a ship or a ship’s boat; or\n(b) a ship is lost or presumed to be lost, or is abandoned or materially damaged; or\n(c) a ship strands or is in collision; or\n(d) a ship is disabled; or\n(e) any material damage is caused by a ship.\n(2) In these Regulations\n“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;\n“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;\n“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;\n“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;\n“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;\n“Inspector’s Inquiry” means an investigation ordered under regulation 6(2);\n“investigation” means any investigation carried out by an inspector, including but not limited to an Inspector’s Inquiry;\n“major injury” has the same meaning as in the Merchant Shipping (Safety Officials and Reporting of Accidents and Dangerous Occurrences) Regulations 1982;\n“pleasure craft” means a vessel primarily used for sport or recreation;\n“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;\n“ship’s boat” includes a liferaft, painting punt and any boat normally carried by a ship;\n“strands” means goes aground and cannot immediately re-float;\n“United Kingdom ship” means a ship registered in the United Kingdom.\n(3) 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.",
  "extent": null,
  "status": null,
  "version": "current",
  "annotations": [
    {
      "type": "footnote",
      "label": "f1",
      "text": "S.I. 1982/876, amended by S.I. 1984/93."
    }
  ],
  "outstanding_effects": [
    {
      "type": "replaced (by defn. of pleasure vessel)",
      "affecting": "uksi/1993/1072",
      "affecting_title": "The Merchant Shipping (Vessels in Commercial Use for Sport or Pleasure) Regulations 1993"
    }
  ],
  "provenance": {
    "source": "legislation.gov.uk",
    "source_url": "https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/1989/1172/regulation/2",
    "retrieved_at": "2026-10-29T15:40:59.063832+00:00"
  },
  "licence": "Open Government Licence v3.0",
  "licence_url": "https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence/version/3/",
  "attribution": "Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Source: legislation.gov.uk, The National Archives."
}