Explanatory note

The Offshore Installations (Life-saving Appliances) Regulations 1977 prohibit the presence of any person on an installation to which the Regulations apply unless the life-saving appliances on that installation have been examined by a person acting at the direction of the Secretary of State. The Offshore Installations (Fire-fighting Equipment) Regulations 1978 contain a similar prohibition in respect of the fire-fighting equipment provided on an offshore installation. Both the 1977 and the 1978 Regulations require the owner of an installation on which an examination is carried out to pay a fee to the Secretary of State, comprising a sum based on the time spent by the examiner in carrying out the examination and in travelling to and from the installation, calculated in accordance with a table set out in the Schedule to the Regulations, and the cost of his travelling and subsistence expenses. These Regulations substitute in the 1977 Regulations and the 1978 Regulations a new table specifying the rates payable in respect of the time spent by an examiner. These new rates replace those having effect by virtue of the Offshore Installations (Life-saving Appliances and Fire-fighting Equipment) (Amendment) Regulations 1985 which were as follows:—