[Federal Register Volume 59, Number 148 (Wednesday, August 3, 1994)]
[Unknown Section]
[Page 0]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 94-18791]
[[Page Unknown]]
[Federal Register: August 3, 1994]
=======================================================================
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
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.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
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]
BILLING CODE 4910-14-M
