Why are we changing the system?

What's being proposed?

Maritime New Zealand (MNZ) has developed a proposed new framework to improve maritime operator safety. We are calling this framework the maritime operator safety system (MOSS).

Why do we need a new system?

Getting the regulatory system right

MNZ's preferred option

Why do we need a new system?

To improve maritime operator safety, MNZ has proposed changes to the maritime rules that guide what is currently known as the safe ship management (SSM) system: Rule Parts 21 and 46.
SSM was introduced in 1998, and several reviews have since found fault with the system. It is now evident that the framework has a number of serious weaknesses:

1. It does not provide MNZ with an effective and efficient means for overseeing SSM organisations (as regulatory service providers) or commercial vessel operators.
2. It is confusing and unduly complex.
3. It is not improving safety outcomes to the extent intended.

It is time to make some fundamental changes to the system to reduce its complexity and to improve the quality of regulatory oversight and, ultimately, your safety.

Getting the regulatory system right

SSM was an attempt to install a ‘quality systems’ approach that would encourage vessel owners to take responsibility for safe working and would require minimal monitoring, leaving MNZ to set standards and target persistent offenders.

From the beginning, the system was poorly aligned with the realities of New Zealand’s domestic shipping industry, which was (and still is) dominated by small owner operators working along New Zealand’s coast and inland waterways.

Several reviews of the system have highlighted these weaknesses. For example, the Thompson Clarke review concluded that the system was “too complex for a significant proportion of operators of smaller, less sophisticated vessels”. The review also found that the system did not provide MNZ with effective and efficient regulatory oversight of New Zealand’s commercial maritime industry.

A subsequent report by the Transport Accident Investigation Commission (TAIC) expressed similar concerns. And, ultimately, the system is not improving our safety outcomes. In more than a decade since the system was introduced, we have seen no reduction in fatalities and an increase in serious harm incidents in our commercial maritime system.

MOSS – MNZ’s preferred option

MNZ developed a preferred approach to changes to the system, in consultation with the industry, and drafted new rules based on this approach. This preferred approach involves replacing the SSM system with MOSS.

The principles guiding MOSS are:

• Improving safety by putting a greater focus on safe operations. Most fatalities and serious injuries over the past 10 years have been caused by human error. MNZ’s approach will therefore place greater emphasis on vessel owners and operators operating safely.
• Creating clearer lines of responsibility. The Maritime Transport Act (MTA) states that owners and operators are responsible for safety. The proposed rule changes will simplify and clarify this responsibility for the day-to-day safe operation of vessels.
• Providing effective and efficient regulatory oversight. The proposed changes will align the maritime rules with the MTA, which is essential to enable us to deliver a more relevant and effective means of regulatory oversight.
• Providing clearer guidance for the certification of operators, vessels and surveyors. The new rules, combined with easily understood guidance material and a greater emphasis on industry support, will make it easier for operators, surveyors and MNZ staff to support safe vessels and safe operating practices.

The proposal sent out for consultation in 2010 involved replacing Maritime Rule Part 46, which guides surveys, certification and maintenance with draft Rule Part 44; and Maritime Rule Part 21, which guides the certification of maritime transport operators, with draft Rule Part 19.

The draft rules have been revised following feedback from industry, and consultation on these revised rules is now under way.

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