Page 25: of Marine News Magazine (October 2015)

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Importantly, a certain type of marine casualty, called a serious marine incident, also requires drug and alcohol testing for: • any reportable marine casualty which results in one or more deaths; • an injury to a crewmember, passenger, or other person which requires professional medical treatment beyond ? rst aid and, if the injured party is a crewmember, renders the individual un? t to perform his or her routine vessel duties or stand their normal watch; • damage to property in excess of $100,000 USD; • actual or constructive total loss of any vessel subject to inspection; • actual or constructive total loss of any self-propelled vessel, not subject to inspection, of 100 gross tons or more; • a discharge of oil of 10,000 gallons or more into navigable waters whether or not resulting from a marine casualty; or • a discharge of a reportable quantity of a hazardous substance into the navigable waters, or a release of a reportable quantity of a hazardous substance into the EEZ, whether or not resulting from a marine casualty. • At the time of occurrence of a marine casualty, a company must make a timely, good faith determination as to whether the incident is, or is likely to become, a serious marine incident. If so, each individual engaged or employed on board the vessel who is “directly involved” must be drug and alcohol tested. Alcohol testing must be completed within 2 hours and drug testing within 32 hours, unless precluded by safety concerns directly related to the incident. An individual “directly involved” means an individual whose order, action, or failure to act is determined to be, or cannot be ruled out as, a causative factor in the incident.

• All reportable marine casualties must be immediately reported to the nearest U.S. Coast Guard Sector Of? ce, Marine Inspection Of? ce, or Coast Guard Group Of? ce after addressing the resultant safety concerns, with one exception. If the marine casualty involves “signi? cant harm to the environment,” it must be reported to the National Response Center (NRC), not the Sector. A written report on a Form CG-2692 must follow within 5 days, along with drug and alcohol testing results, if required, on Form CG-2692B.

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In an effort to make compliance with the marine casualty reporting requirements more attainable and enforcement www.marinelink.com

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