MCA – safety rules for domestic passenger ships

The Maritime & Coastguard Agency (MCA) hase released an update to Merchant Shipping Notice (MSN) 1869 – (M) Safety Management Code For Domestic Passenger Ships.

The new update has added an attachment to the document which changes the wording on when the audit must take place. In 2015, MSN 1869 revised the domestic safety management (DSM) survey and certification regime to align it with that of international safety management, which was less onerous and therefore reduced the burden on business. The revised regime reduced the requirement for 10 ships surveys over a five year period to two surveys and introduced one office audit and annual self-assessments (an assessment of these impacts is detailed in Impact Assessment (IA) DfT00305).

It anticipated that the DSM audit could be undertaken at the same time as the annual survey for the passenger ship certificate because there was some crossover of requirements for both certificates. However, the annual passenger ship survey does not require the ship to be operational and consequently it has not always been possible to combine the audit with the survey. In these circumstances, a separate DSM audit will be required.

MSN 1869 is now being revised to reflect this situation. For further information, please follow the link to the full MSN document and its associated amendments – https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/msn-1869-m-safety-management-code-for-domestic-passenger-ships#history

If you have any questions, please contact Ed Tuite at etuite@britishmarine.co.uk

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