These Regulations enforce measures which prevent seafarers being injured or killed by entry into enclosed spaces, and include some amendments which extend the requirements of the Merchant Shipping (Entry into Dangerous Spaces) Regulations 1988 and Chapter III of SOLAS to ships to which the SOLAS Convention does not apply. It places duties on shipowners, masters, employers of seafarers and others to take measures to protect seafarers from the hazards of entering and/or working in enclosed spaces.
For context, entry into enclosed spaces is a sometimes necessary but dangerous work activity on board ships. An enclosed space is defined in IMO resolution A.1050(27) on revised recommendations for entering enclosed spaces aboard ships, adopted on 30th November 2011, as “a space which has any of the following characteristics—
By contrast, the 1988 Regulations adopted the term ‘dangerous space’, defined as: “any enclosed or confined space in which it is foreseeable that the atmosphere may at some stage contain toxic or flammable gases or vapours, or be deficient in oxygen, to the extent that it may endanger the life or health of any person entering that space.”. This Regulation adopts a modified version of the definition used in IMO resolution A.1050(27), which has been amended to provide greater clarity: “a space which is not designed for continuous worker occupancy and has either or both of the following characteristics—
