On 24 November 1998 in Herman v Tidewater Pacific, Inc., the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals issued a decision holding that OSHA has jurisdiction over uninspected vessels while in the territorial waters of the United States and over the seamen on such vessels. This decision provides a good analysis of the preceding cases on this issue.
The violations at issue in this case were violations of confined space entry procedures, machine guarding, blood-borne pathogen exposure control, and the failure of the employer to keep a log of injuries and illnesses as required by OSHA.
The vessel involved in this case was a tugboat. The Coast Guard has issued certain specific regulations applicable to fishing vessels, particularly related to machine guarding, but these regulations do not apply to tugs.
The Directorate of Compliance, Occupational Safety and Health, had issued a Compliance Instruction (CPL 2-1.20 dated November 8, 1996, which distinguishes many of the areas over which OSHA has jurisdiction on uninspected vessels. The Instruction also lists areas over which the Coast Guard has jurisdiction - click here to read the Instruction. In addition, the Seattle Regional Office of OSHA issued its own guidelines in Instruction CLP 2.6C in June 1998. This instruction indicates that OSHA does have jurisdiction over stairs on uninspected vessels and supports MAC's earlier position that, had District Court Judge Zilly been provided with all the facts, he would not have ruled that OSHA has not regulated ship's stairs. Click here to read my article on subject or click here to read the Seattle Regional Instruction.
For an index of OSHA documents impacting on Coast Guard activities, MAC Home Page readers may click here and enter "COAST GUARD" as the search parameter in the search window.