Immediate Reporting of Casualties

DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION

Coast Guard

46 CFR Part 4

[CGD 94-030]

RIN 2115-AE89

Immediate Reporting of Casualties

AGENCY: Coast Guard, DOT.

ACTION: Interim rule with request for comments.

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SUMMARY: The Coast Guard is amending the rule that requires notice of

marine casualties. The amended rule will clarify which marine

casualties require immediate notice, the means of giving other notice,

who shall give it, and to whom it shall be given, so that prompt

corrective or investigative efforts can be initiated. The intent of

this change is to provide a mechanism that will help prevent another

disaster such as the derailment of a passenger train near Mobile,

Alabama, in September, 1993.

DATES: This rule is effective on August 3, 1994. Comments must be

received on or before November 1, 1994.

ADDRESSES: Comments may be mailed to the Executive Secretary, Marine

Safety Council (G-LRA, 3406) [CGD 94-030], U.S. Coast Guard

Headquarters, 2100 Second Street SW., Washington, DC 20593-0001, or may

be delivered to Room 3406 at the above address between 8 a.m. and 3

p.m., Monday through Friday, except Federal holidays. The telephone

number is (202) 267-1477.

The Executive Secretary maintains the public docket for this

rulemaking. Comments will become part of this docket and will be

available for inspection or copying at Room 3406, U.S. Coast Guard

Headquarters, between 8 a.m. and 3 p.m., Monday through Friday, except

Federal holidays.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

LCDR P.A. Jensen or LTJG S. M. Atkinson, Marine Investigation Division,

Office of Marine Safety, Security, and Environmental Protection (G-MMI-

1), (202) 267-1430, between 7 a.m. and 3:30 p.m., Monday through

Friday, except Federal holidays.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Request for Comments

The Coast Guard encourages interested persons to participate in

this rulemaking by submitting written data, views, or arguments.

Persons submitting comments should include their names and addresses,

identify this rulemaking [CGD 94-030] and the specific section of this

interim rule to which each comment applies, and give a reason for each

comment. Please submit two copies of all comments and attachments in an

unbound format, no larger than 8\1/2\ by 11 inches, suitable for

copying and electronic filing. Persons wanting acknowledgment of

receipt of comments should enclose stamped, self-addressed postcards or

envelopes. The Coast Guard will consider all comments received during

the comment period. It may change this rule in view of the comments.

The Coast Guard plans no public hearing. Persons may request a

public hearing by writing to the Marine Safety Council at the address

under ``ADDRESSES.'' The request should include reasons why a hearing

would be beneficial. It it determines that the opportunity for oral

presentations will aid this rulemaking, the Coast Guard will hold a

public hearing at a time and place announced by a later notice in the

Federal Register.

Drafting Information

The principal persons involved in drafting this document are LCDR

P.A. Jensen and LTJG S.M. Atkinson, Project Managers, Office of Marine

Safety, Security, and Environmental Protection, and Patrick J. Murray,

Project Counsel, Office of Chief Counsel.

Regulatory Information

This rule is being published as an interim rule and is being made

effective on the date of publication. The Coast Guard has determined

that it would be contrary to the public interest to delay publication

of this amendment, which clarifies existing law, imposes no new

regulatory requirement, and accomplishes no significant change in

policy. For these good reasons, the Coast Guard finds, under 5 U.S.C.

553(b)(3) and (d)(3), that both notice and public hearing on the

notice, before the effective date of this rule, are unnecessary and

that this rule should be made effective less than 30 days after

publication.

Background and Purpose

(a) The derailment of the Amtrak Sunset Limited, a passenger train,

on September 22, 1993, with extensive injury and loss of life, resulted

in a study by the Coast Guard entitled Review of Marine Safety Issues

Related to Uninspected Towing Vessels. This study, conducted jointly by

the Office of Navigation Safety and Waterway Services (G-N) and the

Office of Marine Safety, Security, and Environmental Protection (G-M),

provided the Commandant with a number of recommendations to enhance

safety in the towing industry. (Persons may review this study at the

office of the Marine Safety Council at the address under

``ADDRESSES.'') One of these recommendations called for a regulatory

project to improve procedures whereby information concerning allisions

is reported. The Commandant concurred, and directed the Marine

Investigation Division (G-MMI), within G-M, to initiate the project. On

March 2, 1994, the Coast Guard announced [59 FR 10031] a public meeting

to help guide the project.

(b) The preliminary findings on the allision in September, 1993, of

a tow with a railroad bridge near Mobile, Alabama (the AMTRAK

accident), indicated that there is substantial potential for

misunderstanding which incidents require immediate notice, the means of

giving other notice, by whom, and to whom. Rulemaking is necessary to

improve the giving of notice on allisions.

(c) A ``town meeting'' took place on April 4, 1994, at Coast Guard

Headquarters, 2100 Second Street SW., Washington, DC. This open

meeting, comprised mainly of representatives from the towing industry

and the Coast Guard, solicited and elicited detailed comments

concerning the recommendations of the Coast Guard and Department of

Transportation (DOT) in the study of safety of towing vessels. The

comments helped shape both the Work Plan and the new regulatory

language.

Discussion of Rule

The net effect of this interim rule and of a similar one, going

forward under docket number CGD 94-027 and concerning 33 CFR part 160,

will be to rationalize the ``division of labor'' between that part and

46 CFR part 4. Part 160 will comprehend all urgent matters, including

some that part 4 might have seemed either to embrace or to neglect.

Conspicuous among these will be many allisions with bridges, prompt

notice of which might prevent another such catastrophe as the AMTRAK

accident.

This interim rule cross-refers to new 33 CFR Secs. 160.203 and

160.215, which, respectively, redefine the term ``hazardous condition''

and elaborate the requirements for reporting hazardous conditions.

Sec. 160.215 now covers many allisions with bridges and every hazardous

condition ``caused by a vessel or its operation.''

Like the interim rule on part 160, this interim rule on part 4 adds

the term ``operator'' to the list of those responsible for giving

notice. Often, a vessel is owned by one company but operated by

another.

Making ``operator'' explicit in both parts will clarify the

operator's responsibility for giving notice of hazardous conditions and

marine casualties.

This interim rule breaks existing 46 CFR 4.05-1 into two

paragraphs. Paragraph (a) will require specified marine casualties to

be reported immediately after the resulting safety concerns have been

addressed rather than ``as soon as possible.'' This quoted phrase has

allowed for considerable personal interpretation and has been removed.

Paragraph (b) will eliminate dual reporting when a hazardous condition

also involves a marine casualty, by allowing the notice given under 33

CFR 160.215 to suffice for the notice required in 46 CFR 4.05-1(b).

New paragraph (b) of 46 CFR 4.05-10 emphasizes the filing of the

required written notice without delay. The timely submission of the

written notice of marine casualties not involving hazardous conditions

will fulfill the requirement of paragraph (a) of Sec. 4.05-1. The

substitution of written for spoken notice will lighten the burden both

on mariners of giving, and on the Coast Guard of getting, spoken notice

of marine casualties not involving hazardous conditions.

Regulatory Evaluation

This interim rule is not a significant regulatory action under

Sec. 3(f) of Executive Order 12866 and does not require an assessment

of potential costs and benefits under Sec. 6(a)(3) of that Order. It

has not been reviewed by the Office of Management and Budget under that

Order.

It is not significant under the regulatory policies and procedures

of the Department of Transportation (DOT) [44 FR 11034 (February 26,

1979)]. The Coast Guard expects the economic impact of this rule to be

so minimal that a full Regulatory Evaluation under paragraph 10(e) of

the regulatory policies and procedures of DOT is unnecessary. This

finding rests on the determination that this interim rule clarifies an

existing requirement and does not place any new requirement on the

public.

Small Entities

Under the Regulatory Flexibility Act [5 U.S.C. 601 et seq.], the

Coast Guard must consider the economic impact on small entities of a

rule for which a general notice of proposed rulemaking is required.

``Small entities'' may include (1) small businesses and not-for-profit

organizations that are independently owned and operated and are not

dominant in their fields and (2) governmental jurisdictions with

populations of less than 50,000.

The Coast Guard has reviewed this interim rule for potential impact

on small entities. Because this rule does not place any new requirement

on the public, the Coast Guard has determined that it will have no

economic impact on small entities. If you nonetheless think that your

business or organization qualifies as a small entity and that this rule

will have a significant economic impact on it, please submit a comment

(see ``ADDRESSES'') explaining why and to what degree this rule will

economically affect it.

Collection of Information

Under the Paperwork Reduction Act [44 U.S.C. 3501 et seq.], the

Office of Management and Budget (OMB) reviews each rule that contains a

collection-of-information requirement, to determine whether the

practical value of the information is worth the burden imposed by its

collection. Collection-of-information requirements include reporting,

recordkeeping, notification, and other, similar requirements. This rule

will clarify the reporting of marine casualties to include

unintentional strikes of bridges. However, when it has met the

additional criteria found in 46 CFR 4.05-1, this type of casualty has

always been included in the category of ``other'' casualties listed on

the form. A CG-2692 (OMB No. 2115-0003) will still be the form used.

Persons submitting comments on the requirements should submit their

comments both to OMB and to the Coast Guard where indicated under

ADDRESSES.

Federalism

The Coast Guard has analyzed this interim rule under the principles

and criteria contained in Executive Order 12612 and has determined that

this rule does not have sufficient implications for federalism to

warrant the preparation of a Federalism Assessment.

Environment

The Coast Guard has considered the environmental impact of this

interim rule and has concluded that, under Sec. 2.B.2 of Commandant

Instruction M16475.1B, this rule is categorically excluded from further

environmental documentation.

This rule is an administrative matter within the meaning of sub-

Sec. 2.B.2.1 of that instruction that clearly has no environmental

impact. (It requires the reporting of marine casualties and the

reporting of most strikes of bridges.) A ``Determination of Categorical

Exclusion'' is available in the docket for inspection or copying where

indicated under ADDRESSES.

List of Subjects in 46 CFR Part 4

Administrative practice and procedure, Investigations, Marine

safety, National Transportation Safety Board, Reporting and

recordkeeping requirements, Safety, and Transportation.

For the reasons set out in the preamble, the Coast Guard amends 46

CFR Part 4 as follows:

TITLE 46 [AMENDED]

PART 4--MARINE CASUALTIES AND INVESTIGATIONS

1. The citation of authority for part 4 is revised to read as

follows:

Authority: 33 U.S.C. 1231; 43 U.S.C. 1333; 46 U.S.C. 2103, 2306,

6101, 6301, 6305; 50 U.S.C. 198; 49 CFR 1.46. Authority for subpart

4.40: 49 U.S.C. 1903(a)(1)(E); 49 CFR 1.46.

2. Section 4.05-1 is revised to read as follows:

Sec. 4.05-1 Notice of marine casualty.

(a) Immediately after the addressing of resultant safety concerns,

the owner, agent, master, operator, or person in charge, shall notify

the nearest Marine Safety Office, Marine Inspection Office or Coast

Guard Group Office whenever a vessel is involved in a marine casualty

consisting in--

(1) An unintended grounding, or an unintended strike of (allison

with) a bridge;

(2) An intended grounding, or an intended strike of a bridge, that

creates a hazard to navigation, the environment, or the safety of a

vessel, or that meets any criterion of paragraphs (a) (3) through (7);

(3) A loss of main propulsion, primary steering, or any associated

component or control system that reduces the maneuverability of the

vessel;

(4) An occurrence materially and adversely affecting the vessel's

seaworthiness or fitness for service or route, including but not

limited to fire, flooding, or failure of or damage to fixed fire-

extinguishing systems, lifesaving equipment, auxiliary power-generating

equipment, or bilge-pumping systems;

(5) A loss of life;

(6) An injury that requires professional medical treatment

(treatment beyond first aid) and, if the person is engaged or employed

on board a vessel in commercial service, that renders the individual

unfit to perform his or her routine duties; or

(7) An occurrence causing property-damage in excess of $25,000,

this damage including the cost of labor and material to restore the

property to its condition before the occurrence, but not including the

cost of salvage, cleaning, gas-freeing, drydocking, or demurrage.

(b) Notice given as required by 33 CFR 160.215 satisfies the

requirement of this section if the marine casualty involves a hazardous

condition as defined by 33 CFR 160.203.

3. Section 4.05-10 is revised to read as follows:

Sec. 4.05-10 Written report of marine casualty.

(a) The owner, agent, master, operator, or person in charge shall,

within five days, file a written report of any marine casualty. This

written report is in addition to the immediate notice required by

Sec. 4.05-1. This written report must be delivered to a Coast Guard

Marine Safety Office or Marine Inspection Office. It must be provided

on Form CG-2692 (Report of Marine Accident, Injury or Death),

supplemented as necessary by appended Forms CG-2692A (Barge Addendum)

and CG-2692B (Report of Required Chemical Drug and Alcohol Testing

Following a Serious Marine Incident).

(b) If filed without delay after the occurrence of the marine

casualty, the notice required by paragraph (a) of this section suffices

as the notice required by Sec. 4.05-1(a).

Dated: July 15, 1994.

J.C. Card,

Rear Admiral, U.S. Coast Guard, Chief, Office of Marine Safety,

Security and Environmental Protection.

[FR Doc. 94-18791 Filed 8-2-94; 8:45 am]

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