Commercial vessel operators face a multitude of compliance obligations. The regulatory landscape increases in complexity year-on-year, and with every change comes more paperwork.
Domestic Commercial Vessel operators, whether engaged in fishing, tourism, ferries or towage, need to be mindful of a range of legal compliance obligations including:
- the Marine Safety (Domestic Commercial Vessel) National Law Act 2012, and supporting regulation and various marine orders
- employment obligations, including the requirements of the Fair Work Act 2009 and any enterprise agreements
- work health safety obligations, including the various state work health safety acts, the Commonwealth’ s Occupational Health & Safety (Maritime Industry) Act and the various codes and standards underneath those acts.
Perhaps most importantly, safety of operations and the facilities provided to workers on vessels must be compliant both with Marine orders and the various work health and safety obligations. Safety management systems must be comprehensive yet practicable, and operators must be vigilant to ensure that their safety management systems are being implemented, and that company records and logbooks are being properly kept.
If there is any failure to comply with these extensive requirements, then regulatory enforcement action is likely to follow. At Pacific Maritime lawyers we are very experienced in navigating the maze that is regulatory compliance, and if you have any regulatory issues, please Contact us to arrange a consultation.