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Marine Incident Reporting

Marine Incident Reporting

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Masters of Australian registered vessels, or of foreign flag vessels in Australian waters and other 'responsible persons' are obliged, under the Transport Safety Investigation Act and Regulations 2003, to report any accident (or 'immediately reportable matter') as soon as practicable to the ATSB, by the quickest means possible. Recognising the practical difficulties of reporting to a number of separate authorities, the Regulations consider a report to the Australian Maritime Safety Authority (AMSA), or to AusSAR in Canberra, to be a report to the ATSB, although the ATSB is a separate organisation. On receipt of a report of an incident, ATSB staff, who are on 24 hour call, decide(s) what action will be taken.

Depending on the type and severity of the incident, this may be:

  • An investigation carried out by an ATSB or specially appointed investigator, or
  • More information sought from the owner, employer or other body, or
  • No further action taken

Incidents should be notified to AMSA using forms AMSA 18 and AMSA 19. These can be downloaded from the Shipping Industry Forms page of the AMSA website.

AMSA forwards copies of the completed forms to us and these meet ATSB reporting requirements.

  

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Last Updated: 24 November, 2006