STATUTORY RULES
1968 No. 42
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REGULATIONS UNDER THE NAVIGATION ACT 1912-1967.*
I, THE GOVERNOR-GENERAL in and over the Commonwealth of Australia, acting with the advice of the Federal Executive Council, hereby make the following Regulations under the Navigation Act 1912-1967.
Dated this twentieth day of March, 1968.
CASEY
Governor-General.
By His Excellency’s Command,
(Sgd.) Ian Sinclair
Minister of State for Shipping and Transport.
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NAVIGATION (WATERTIGHT DOORS AND SCUTTLES) REGULATIONS
Citation.
1. These Regulations may be cited as the Navigation (Watertight Doors and Scuttles) Regulations.
Repeal.
2. The Navigation (Watertight Doors and Scuttles) Regulations (being Statutory Rules 1959, No. 59) are repealed.
Interpretation.
3.—(1.) Where a word or phrase used in these Regulations is defined in sub-regulation (1.) of regulation. 4 of the Navigation (Construction) Regulations, that word or phrase as so used has the meaning given to it in that sub-regulation.
(2.) In these Regulations, unless the contrary intention appears—
“seasonal tropical zone” and “tropical zone” have the same respective meanings as in the Load Line Rules;
“ship” means a passenger ship;
“the Load Line Rules” has the same meaning as in the Navigation (Load Lines) Regulations.
Certain contrivances to be kept closed at sea.
4.—(1.) A ship shall not go to sea unless all contrivances to which this regulation applies which are in the ship are closed and locked before the ship goes to sea.
(2.) All contrivances to which this regulation applies which are in a ship shall be kept closed and locked while the ship is at sea.
(3.) Cargo shall not be loaded into a space below the margin line of a ship unless all side scuttles in that space have been closed and locked.
* Notified in the Commonwealth Gazette on 1968.
8766/64—Price 8c
(4.) Subject to the next two succeeding sub-regulations, this regulation applies to the following contrivances:—
(a) a watertight door below the margin line in a ship, being a door fitted in a watertight bulkhead which, at the level at which the door is fitted, divides ’tween-deck cargo spaces from one another;
(b) a side scuttle of an opening type which is fitted in a ’tween decks and below the margin line in a ship, if the sill of any side scuttle in the ’tween decks is below a line drawn parallel to the bulkhead deck at the side of the ship and having its lowest point four and one-half feet plus a distance equal to two and one-half per centum of the breadth of the ship above the water when the ship is first afloat in seawater after proceeding to sea;
(c) a side scuttle below the margin line in a ship, being a side scuttle which is not accessible while the ship is at sea, and the deadlight of such a side scuttle;
(d) a side scuttle below the margin line in a ship, being a side scuttle situated in a space appropriated to the carriage either of cargo or passengers, when the space in which the side scuttle is situated is used for the carriage of cargo;
(e) the deadlight of a side scuttle referred to in the last preceding paragraph; and
(f) a gangway, cargo or coaling port below the margin line in a ship.
(5.) Where—
(a) the Minister has, for the purposes of this regulation, allotted a limiting mean draught to a ship;
(b) a side scuttle which, when the ship is afloat in sea water at her deepest subdivision load water-line, would, by reason of paragraph (b) of the last preceding sub-regulation, be a contrivance to which this regulation applies; and
(c) the sill of such a side scuttle is above a line drawn parallel to the bulkhead deck at the side of the ship and having its lowest point four and one-half feet plus a distance equal to two and one-half per centum of the breadth of the ship above the limiting mean draught so allotted to the ship,
such a side scuttle shall, when the ship is afloat in sea water at a draught equal to or less than the limiting draught so allotted, be deemed not to be a contrivance to which this regulation applies.
(6.) Paragraph (b) of sub-regulation (4.) of this regulation and the last preceding sub-regulation shall, in relation to a ship while in a tropical zone (including a seasonal tropical zone in an appropriate season) during fair weather, have effect as if “three and one-half feet” were substituted for “four and one-half feet”.
(7.) For the purposes of this regulation, a contrivance shall be deemed to be below the margin line if the sill of the contrivance is below that line.
Watertight doors to be closed.
5.—(1.) A watertight door in a ship, not being a door which is a contrivance to which the last preceding regulation applies, shall be kept closed while the ship is at sea, except—
(a) when it is necessary for it to be open for the working of the ship; or
(b) when it is required to be opened and closed in pursuance of regulation 9 of these Regulations.
(2.) When a watertight door to which the last preceding sub-regulation applies is open for the working of the ship, it shall be kept free from obstructions that might prevent its rapid closure.
Portable plates to be in place.
6.—(1.) Where an opening in a portion of the internal watertight structure of a ship—
(a) is situated wholly or partly below the margin line of the ship; and
(b) is intended to be closed by the setting in place of a portable plate,
a portable plate shall, except in the case of urgent necessity, be in place to close the opening while the ship is at sea.
(2.) For the purposes of this regulation, a portable plate shall not be deemed to be in place unless the joint between the plate and the structure of the ship is watertight.
Bunker doors to be kept accessible.
7. A watertight door, not being a power operated sliding watertight door, fitted in a bulkhead between a permanent bunker and a reserve bunker in a ship shall be kept accessible at all times.
Covers and valves of ash-shoots, etc., to be closed.
8. The cover and valve of an ash-shoot, rubbish-shoot or other similar contrivance in a ship having its inboard opening below the margin line of the ship shall, when the shoot or other contrivance is not in use, be kept securely closed and watertight.
Opening and closing of contrivances, etc., for testing purposes.
9.—(1.) Subject to the next succeeding sub-regulation, each watertight door or contrivance referred to in regulation 4, 5 or 8 of these Regulations in a ship and the means of communication provided for any of those doors which cannot be closed from a central control station shall be tested—
(a) at intervals of not more than seven days; and
(b) immediately before the ship proceeds to sea, if the ship is intended to remain at sea for a period exceeding seven days.
(2.) The last preceding sub-regulation does not require the opening and closing, while a ship is at sea, of a contrivance which is required by regulation 4 of these Regulations to be kept closed.
(3.) Subject to the next succeeding sub-regulation, each watertight door in a ship fitted in a transverse watertight bulkhead, being a door which—
(a) is hinged or is operated by power; and
(b) is required to be open for the working of the ship at any time while the ship is at sea,
shall, once in every period of twenty-four hours while the ship is at sea, be opened and closed for the purpose of testing its operation.
(4.) The last preceding sub-regulation does not require—
(a) the opening and closing of a watertight door required by regulation 4 of these Regulations to be kept closed while the ship is at sea; or
(b) the opening and closing of a bunker door during a voyage before it has been opened for the working of the ship during that voyage.
Inspection of watertight doors, valves, etc.
10.—(1.) Each contrivance in a ship, being a contrivance to which this regulation applies, shall—
(a) be inspected at intervals not exceeding seven days, by a person appointed for that purpose by the master of the ship; and
(b) be suitably marked to ensure that it may be properly used to provide maximum safety.
(2.) This regulation applies to the following contrivances:—
(a) a watertight door in a ship;
(b) a mechanism, indicator or warning device connected with a watertight door in a ship;
(c) the means of communication provided for a watertight door which cannot be closed from a central control station;
(d) a valve the closing of which is necessary to make watertight a compartment situated below the margin line in a ship; and (e) a valve the operation of which is necessary for the efficient operation of damage-control cross-connexions in a ship.
Log-book entries.
11. Entries shall be made in the official log-book of a ship recording—
(a) the times of the last closing, if any, before the ship proceeds to sea, and of the next subsequent opening, of the contrivances to which regulation 4 of these Regulations applies;
(b) the times of the opening and closing, while the ship is at sea, of the watertight doors fitted between bunkers in the ’tween decks below the bulkhead deck;
(c) whether the portable plates referred to in regulation 6 of these Regulations are in place when the ship proceeds to sea and the times, if any, of the removal and replacement of those plates, or any of them, while the ship is at sea; and
(d) the occasions on which tests and inspections are made in compliance with these Regulations and whether the contrivances to which the tests and inspections relate were found to be in good working order and, if not found to be in good working order, the extent to which they were not in good working order and the action taken to put them into good working order.
Offences.
12. Where a requirement of these Regulations (not being a requirement that an entry be made in the official log-book of a ship) is not complied with in relation to a ship, the master of the ship is guilty of an offence punishable upon conviction by a fine not exceeding Two hundred dollars.
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By Authority: A. J. Arthur, Commonwealth Government Printer, Canberra