AMSA reveals compliance focus for 2024-25
The Australian Maritime Safety Authority (AMSA) has outlined the key compliance areas in which it will focus as part of its National Compliance Plan during 2024-25.
As a matter of transparency, AMSA outlines its priorities in advance to allow industry to review their operations in order to ensure compliance.
The compliance program is informed by safety data and trends to ensure AMSA’s focus and encourage voluntary compliance and continuous improvement.
AMSA is expected to conduct at least 2300 inspections of domestic commercial vessels based on vessel priority areas for 2024-25 including:
- Safe working practices – injury to crew – expected to focus on changes to safety management system provisions, including simpler systems for smaller vessels, covering the following:
- Fatigue management
- Dangerous goods
- Emergency plans
- Simplified SMS
- Stability risks
2. Persons overboard, fatalities – A focused inspection campaign on lifejacket wear requirements conducted in Quarter 3 and 4 of 2023 and introduced as part of the phase 1 changes to Marine Order 504, showed that 46% of the inspected vessels could not identify when lifejackets must be worn. 44 per cent did not identify when to wear a lifejacket other than in an emergency.
3. Poorly implemented safety management systems – Vessel operations represent a concerning proportion of serious and very serious marine incidents. A major contributing factor to these incidents is the quality of Safety Management System (SMS) implementation, including risk assessment, safety procedures, crew training and emergency drills.
4. Garbage – awareness and compliance with pollution prevention (garbage) requirements(MARPOL Annex V) . This includes placard display, garbage management plans, garbage record books, discharge rules and procedures. The 2024/25 focus will be on MARPOL Annex V and the prevention of pollution by garbage from domestic commercial vessels.