17 July 2018
Who does this notice affect?
This notice is of interest to relevant shipping agents and international vessel masters.
What has occurred?
The Department of Agriculture and Water Resources has recently become aware of an incident involving the hospitalisation of ship’s crew member following exposure to Ozone while performing maintenance on an on-board ballast water treatment system.
An assessment will now be undertaken by the department to examine the risk of these types of systems and the activities performed by Biosecurity Officers to ensure that any threats to the health and safety of departmental staff have been adequately mitigated.
What has changed?
Until further notice, vessel inspections will not occur if a vessel is either operating or is conducting maintenance on a ballast water treatment system that uses Ozone as an active substance.
Biosecurity officers will:
- Confirm that the system will NOT be operating at that time of inspection and
- Confirm that maintenance will NOT be undertaken on the system at the time of inspection.
If steps 1 and 2 cannot be confirmed an inspection will not proceed. Notification will be sent to the vessels agent to reschedule the inspection.
Likely impact?
Given the relatively low number of vessels likely to be performing maintenance or operating Ozone ballast water treatment systems at the time of inspection, the impact of this change is expected to be minor.
Further information
If you require further information please contact the Maritime National Coordination Centre or phone +61 8 8201 6185 (overseas) or 1300 004 605 (in Australia).