The Merchant Shipping (Safety Measures for Ships Carrying Industrial Personnel and Special Personnel) Regulations 2025

3 Interpretation

(1) In these Regulations— “cargo ship” means any ship which is not a passenger ship, a high speed cargo craft or a special purpose ship; “Chapter I” means Chapter I in the Annex to the Convention (general provisions); “Chapter X” means Chapter X in the Annex to the Convention (safety measures for high speed craft); “Chapter XV” means Chapter XV in the Annex to the Convention (safety measures for ships carrying industrial personnel); “constructed” means, with respect to a ship, that the keel is laid or that the ship is at a similar stage of construction; “Convention” means the International Convention for the Safety of Life at Sea, 1974; “crew” means all persons carried on board a ship to provide navigation and maintenance of the ship, its machinery, systems and arrangements essential for propulsion and safe navigation or to provide services for other persons on board; “flag administration” means, in relation to a ship, the administration of the State whose flag the ship is entitled to fly; “gross tonnage” means gross tonnage as determined in accordance with regulation 6 or 12(1) of the Merchant Shipping (Tonnage) Regulations 1997; “high speed cargo craft” means a high speed craft carrying not more than 12 passengers; “high speed craft” has the meaning given to it in regulation 1.3 of Chapter X and includes hovercraft; “High-Speed Craft Code, 2000” means the Code described in regulation 1.2 of Chapter X and includes the amendments adopted by IMO Resolution MSC.537(107); “IMO” means the International Maritime Organization, which is a special agency of the United Nations responsible for shipping safety and security and the prevention of pollution; “industrial personnel” means a person who is transported or accommodated on board a ship for the purpose of offshore industrial activities performed on board other ships or on offshore facilities; “IP Code” means the International Code of Safety for Ships Carrying Industrial Personnel; “Merchant Shipping Notice” means a notice described as such and issued by the Maritime and Coastguard Agency (an executive agency of the Department for Transport) and includes a reference to any document amending or replacing that notice which is considered by the Secretary of State to be relevant from time to time and is specified in a Merchant Shipping Notice; “non-United Kingdom ship” means any ship other than a United Kingdom ship; “offshore industrial activities” means the construction, maintenance, decommissioning, operation or servicing of offshore facilities related, but not limited to, exploration and exploitation of resources by the renewable or hydrocarbon energy sectors, aquaculture, ocean mining or similar activities; “passenger” means a person other than— the master and the members of the crew or other persons employed or engaged in any capacity on board a ship on the business of that ship; industrial personnel; special personnel; or a child under one year of age; “passenger ship” means a ship which carries more than 12 passengers; “similar stage of construction” means the stage at which— construction identifiable with a specific cargo ship or high speed cargo craft begins; and assembly of— the cargo ship has commenced comprising at least 50 gross tonnage or one per cent of the estimated mass of all structural material, whichever is less; or the high speed cargo craft has commenced comprising at least 50 gross tonnage or three per cent of the estimated mass of all structural material, whichever is less; “special personnel” means a person who is carried on board a ship in connection with the special purpose of that ship or because of special work being carried out on board the ship, but who is not a member of the crew; “special purpose ship” means a ship which is not a passenger ship and which carries on board an aggregate of more than 12 persons consisting of special personnel and passengers where at least one person is special personnel; “SPS Code 1983” means the Code of Safety for Special Purpose Ships, 1983, and includes the amendments adopted by IMO Resolution MSC.542(107); “SPS Code 2008” means the Code of Safety for Special Purpose Ships, 2008, and includes the amendments adopted by IMO Resolution MSC.543(107); “valid” means in force. (2) Any reference in these Regulations to the SPS Code 1983 or the SPS Code 2008 includes any amendment or replacement of that Code which is considered by the Secretary of State to be relevant from time to time and which is specified in a Merchant Shipping Notice. (3) Any reference in Part III, Part IV or Part V of the IP Code to a matter that is expressed as a matter that “should” be discharged must be read as a requirement to discharge. (4) Any reference in Chapters 2 to 9 of the SPS Code 1983 or Chapters 2 to 9 of the SPS Code 2008 to a matter that is expressed as a matter that “should” be discharged must be read as a requirement to discharge. (5) Any reference in these Regulations to a communication to be given “in writing” includes the provision of such communication by electronic mail, facsimile or other means, which is capable of producing a document containing the text of any communication and in a form sufficiently permanent to be used for subsequent reference.