EXPLANATORY NOTES
Marine Orders, Part 57
Helicopter operations (formerly Part 18)
Issue 2
Order No 2 of 1997
Authority
1. Section 425(1) of the Navigation Act 1912 (the Act) empowers the Governor-General to make regulations necessary or convenient for carrying out or giving effect to the Act.
2. Section 425 (1AA) of the Act allows the Australian Maritime Safety Authority (the Authority) to make orders with respect to matters in Part IV of the Act in relation to which provision may be made by regulations.
3. Marine Orders, Part 57, Issue 2, was made pursuant to Section 425(1AA).
Purpose
4. Marine Orders, Part 57:
· provides for a safe system of operations for transfer of persons or goods by helicopter to or from ships;
· specifies a code of practice for transfer between ship and helicopter taking into account requirements specific to Australian maritime and aviation conditions.
Overview
5. Marine Orders Part 57 requires an owner of a ship to provide equipment, training of the ship’s crew, instructions and such arrangements as are necessary for the safe transfer of persons and goods between a helicopter and a ship.
6. Marine Orders Part 18 has been changed to Marine Orders Part 57 to conform to subject groupings in the Marine Orders series.
7. Part 57 has been amended to prescribe the responsibility of the Master of a ship in relation to equipment and training.
Contents of the Order
8. Provision 1 provides interpretations necessary for proper understanding of this Order.
9. Provision 2 indicates the purpose for which this order has been made and its relationship to the Navigation Act 1912.
10. Provision 3 specifies the class of ships to which this Part applies.
11. Provision 4 specifies, for the purposes of the Navigation (Orders) Regulations, the provisions of Part 57 that are penal provisions.
12. Provision 5 provides for the safety arrangements to be implemented on a ship and has been amended to specify the responsibilities of the master in the safe transfer of persons or goods by helicopter to or from ships. Compliance with that provision may be achieved by adopting practices that conform with designated industry codes of safe practice or operational guidelines.
Australian Maritime Safety Authority
May 1997