Merchant Shipping (Safety) (Means of Access) Regulations
(Enacting provision omitted—E.R. 1 of 2024)
[2 August 1991]
(Format changes—E.R. 1 of 2024)
These regulations may be cited as the Merchant Shipping (Safety) (Means of Access) Regulations.
(Omitted as spent—E.R. 1 of 2024)
In these regulations, unless the context otherwise requires—
access (上落) means embarking on or disembarking from a ship; Code (守則) means Chapter 8 of the Code of Safe Working Practices for Merchant Seamen published in the United Kingdom in 1978 by Her Majesty’s Stationery Office and any document amending or replacing it which is considered by the Director to be relevant from time to time and is specified in a Merchant Shipping Notice; Director (處長) means the Director of Marine; employer (僱主) means a person for the time being employing the master; fishing vessel (捕魚船隻) means a fishing vessel certificated as such under the Merchant Shipping (Local Vessels) Ordinance (Cap. 548); (24 of 2005 s. 55) Hong Kong ship (香港船舶) has the same meaning as in section 107(4) of the Merchant Shipping (Safety) Ordinance (Cap. 369); master (船長) includes any person in charge of a ship during the absence of the master but excludes a watchman; Merchant Shipping Notice (商船公告) means a Notice described as such and issued by the Department of Transport of the United Kingdom; offshore installation (離岸裝設) means any installation which is or has been maintained, or is intended to be established, for the carrying on of any activity to which the Oil and Gas (Enterprise) Act 1982 (1982 c. 23 U.K.) applies; pleasure craft (遊樂航行器) means a vessel primarily used for sport or recreation; portable ladder (活動扶梯) does not include a rope ladder.Subject to subregulation (2), these regulations shall apply to—
Hong Kong ships; and
other ships where they are in the waters of Hong Kong unless they would not have been within such waters but for stress of weather or any other circumstance which neither the master nor the owner of the ship could have prevented or forestalled.
These regulations do not apply to—
fishing vessels,
pleasure craft,
offshore installations whilst on or within 500 metres of their working stations, or
ships in which there is for the time being no master or crew or watchman.
The Director may grant exemptions from all or any of the provisions of these regulations (as may be specified in the exemption) for classes of cases or individual cases on such terms (if any) as he may so specify and may, subject to giving reasonable notice, alter or cancel any such exemption. Any exemption given pursuant to the regulations replaced by these regulations shall continue in effect as if made under these regulations; and any reference in such an exemption to a provision of those regulations shall be construed as referring to the corresponding provision in these regulations.
The employer and the master shall ensure that there is a safe means of access between the ship and any quay, pontoon or similar structure or another ship alongside which the ship is secured and in particular (and without prejudice to the generality of such duty) the employer and the master shall ensure that—
any equipment necessary to provide a safe means of access is placed in position promptly after the ship has been so secured and remains in position while the ship is so secured;
access equipment which is in use—
is properly rigged, secured, deployed, and is safe to use; and
is so adjusted from time to time as to maintain safety of access;
access equipment and immediate approaches thereto are adequately illuminated;
any equipment used for means of access and any safety net is—
of good construction;
of sound material;
of adequate strength for the purposes for which it is used; and
properly maintained.
When access is necessary between ship and shore, and the ship is not secured alongside, the employer and the master shall ensure that such access is provided in a safe manner.
The employer and the master shall take account of the principles and guidelines in the Code when carrying out the duties provided by this regulation.
In every ship of 30 metres or more registered length (or, in the case of an unregistered ship, of 30 metres or more overall length) the employer shall ensure that there is carried on the ship a gangway which is appropriate to the deck layout, size, shape and maximum freeboard of the ship, and which complies with the specifications contained in section 2 of the Code.
In every ship of 120 metres or more in registered length (or, in the case of an unregistered ship, of 120 metres or more overall length) the employer shall ensure that there is carried on the ship an accommodation ladder which is appropriate to the deck layout, size, shape and maximum freeboard of the ship, and which complies with the specifications contained in section 2 of the Code.
The employer and the master shall ensure that—
a portable ladder is used for the purpose of access to the ship only where no safer means of access is reasonably practicable;
a rope ladder is used only for the purpose of access between a ship with high freeboard and a ship with low freeboard or between a ship and a boat if no safer means of access is reasonably practicable;
any rope ladder used for the purpose of access to a ship complies with the specifications contained in section 2.6 of the Code,
provided that the requirements of this regulation shall not affect the requirements of the Merchant Shipping (Safety) (Pilot Ladders and Hoists) Regulations (Cap. 369 sub. leg. AN)#.
The employer and the master shall ensure that—
a life-buoy with a self-activating light; and
a separate safety line attached to a quoit or similar device,
are provided ready for use at the point of access aboard the ship.
The employer and the master shall ensure that an adequate number of safety nets is carried on the ship or is otherwise readily available.
The master shall ensure that where access equipment is in use and there is a risk of a person falling from that access equipment or from the ship or from the quayside immediately adjacent to the access equipment, a safety net is mounted in order to minimise the risk of injury.
Where access equipment is provided in accordance with these regulations any person boarding or leaving the ship shall use that equipment except in emergencies.
Contravention of regulation 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 or 9 by an employer shall be an offence punishable on summary conviction by a fine at level 3 or on conviction on indictment by imprisonment for a term not exceeding one year or such fine, or both.
Contravention of regulation 4, 7, 8 or 9 by a master shall be an offence punishable only on summary conviction by a fine at level 2.
Contravention of regulation 10 shall be an offence punishable only on summary conviction by a fine at level 1.
It shall be a defence for a person charged in respect of a contravention of regulation 4(1) or (2) or 9(2) to show that the requirements of the relevant regulation were complied with so far as was reasonably practicable.
It shall be a defence for a person charged under these regulations to show that he took all reasonable precautions and exercised all due diligence to avoid the commission of the offence.
Where the Director is satisfied that a ship, other than a Hong Kong ship, which is detained pursuant to section 117 of the Merchant Shipping (Safety) Ordinance (Cap. 369) does not comply with the safety requirements of these regulations, he may send a report to the government of the country in which the ship is registered and a copy thereof to the Director-General of the International Labour Office.