Port Marine Safety Code Published

Posted 02/01/2013

The Port Marine Safety Code (‘the Code’) was published recently and applies to all harbour authorities and ports of all sizes, irrespective of resources, cargoes handled or levels of traffic. With the Ports of Felixstowe and Ipswich on our doorsteps this will be of interest to many local businesses and individuals.

Harbour authorities have serious legal duties relating to the safety of people who use our harbours and their property and to the well being of the port environment and community. The Code serves to set those out and to make recommendations as to what steps should be implemented to help reduce the risk of incidents occurring in and around the harbour waters.

The Code also makes strong recommendations in relation to facilities outside of harbour areas such as berths, terminals and marinas; in short, they too should seek to have safety management systems in place which comply with the Code.

The Code has been developed to improve safety in UK ports and to enable harbour authorities to manage their marine operations to nationally agreed standards. It provides the standard against which the policies, procedures and the performance of harbour authorities can be measured, with a strong emphasis on effective management of marine safety.

It is anticipated that the Code should reduce the risk of incidents occurring in harbour waters and the Government will be looking to regularly review the Code. The full Port Marine Safety Code can be accessed here.

Tom Ranson of Ashtons Legal injury services says: “Safety is an issue that concerns us all and we at Ashtons Legal welcome the Code. Port safety is of particular interest to us in this area, with the Ports of Felixstowe and Ipswich very close to home.”