What is REPCON Marine?
REPCON Marine is a voluntary confidential reporting scheme for
marine. REPCON allows any person who has a marine safety concern to
confidentially report it to the ATSB. Protection of the reporter's
identity and any individual referred to in the report is a primary
element of the scheme.
Download notification form: [
PDF: 543KB]
What may be reported with REPCON?
Any matter may be reported if it endangers, or could endanger
the safety of a ship. These matters are reportable safety
concerns.
Examples include:
- a ship being stranded, involved in a near collision or
suffering a loss of stability that endangers the safety of the
ship
- bypassing of safety procedures because of operational or
commercial pressures
- substandard condition of the hull, hatches, watertight doors or
openings, machinery or steering system or cargo handling
equipment
- inadequate crew language skills
- inadequate training and certification of crew
- defective fire prevention, detection or extinguishing
devices
- unsafe engineering operational and maintenance procedures or
practices.
To avoid doubt, the following matters are not reportable safety
concerns and are not guaranteed confidentiality:
- matters showing a serious and imminent threat to a person's
health or life
- terrorist acts
- industrial relations matters
- conduct that may constitute a serious crime.
What is confidential?
Personal information about the reporter and any person referred
to in the report. If you believe it would be necessary to act on
information about an individual referred to in your report then you
should consider reporting this directly to the Aviation Maritime
Safety Authority (AMSA).
Who may make a REPCON report?
A REPCON report may be made by anyone who observes or becomes
aware of a reportable safety concern.
How are REPCON reports processed?
REPCON staff will assess reports for clarity, completeness and
significance for marine safety. To do this, the staff may need to
contact the reporter. Once satisfied that the report is as complete
as possible, the staff enter the de-identified content of the
report into the REPCON database, which allocates it a unique
identification number. The original report is either returned to
the reporter or destroyed.
REPCON may use the de-identified version of the report to issue
an information-brief or alert bulletin to a person or organisation,
including AMSA, which is in a position to take safety action in
response to the safety concern.
What are the possible outcomes from a REPCON report?
The desired outcomes are any safety actions taken to improve
marine safety in response to the identified concern. This can
include variations to standards, orders, practices, procedures or
an education campaign.
Is an anonymous report via REPCON acceptable?
As a general rule REPCON does not accept anonymous reports.
REPCON staff cannot contact an anonymous reporter to verify the
report or to seek additional information. Further, REPCON staff
must be satisfied that the reporter's motivation for reporting is
the promotion of marine safety, and that the reporter is not
attempting to damage a rival or pursue an industrial agenda.
How can I make a REPCON report?
A REPCON form is avaliable for download [PDF: 543KB]
and can be submitted by:
Mail: Reply Paid 600
PO Box 600
Civic Square, ACT 2608
Facsimile: (02) 6274 6461
Telephone: 1800 020 505
International: +61 2 6274 6430z
Email: repcon@atsb.gov.au
If you wish to obtain advice or further information, please call
REPCON on 1800 020 505 (International: +61 2 6274 6430)
Download REPCON information brochures (various translations)