AMSA has launched a new construction barge safety campaign focused on the importance of regularly reviewing risks as part of the safety management system to protect lives on these types of vessels.
All domestic commercial vessels are defined as workplaces in Work Health and Safety (WHS) laws. This includes construction barges which must meet the risk assessment requirements of state and territory WHS regulations, as well as the risk assessment requirements under the National Law administered by AMSA.
“These barges undertake different and high-risk activities daily so owners and operators must always assess changing safety risks,” said Dr Michelle Grech, AMSAs Manager of Vessel Operations.
She added, “Regularly reviewing individual risks and reassessing vessel safety management systems to reflect the operation the barge is performing is vital to keeping vessels and people safe.”
For this reason, a dedicated campaign website with a range of information and practical advice is available to support owners, operators and individual workers.
Permit To Work should be obtained before going overboard
Furthermore, a series of workshops for barge owners and operators as part of the construction barge safety campaign covering risk assessment will also be delivered, in partnership with state and territory WHS agencies.
These will cover key risk assessment information to help make vessels safer places to work, and how to meet National Law and state and territory WHS legal obligations.
To support the regulations to keep people safe on commercial construction barge vessels, AMSA will be conducting joint focused inspections from 1 May 2022 until 30 June 2022 to assist owners and operators to meet the requirements.
Read another report from AMSA: Significant number of ships do not comply with basic navigation safety requirements is finding from the AMSA FIC