§903 Coverage

Summary

Pays money to an employee (or their survivors) for disability or death when the injury happened on U.S. navigable waters or on nearby areas an employer normally uses with a vessel, like piers, wharves, dry docks, or places for loading, unloading, repairing, or building ships. No payment is allowed for officers or employees of the U.S. government, a State, or a foreign government. No payment if the injury was caused only by the worker being intoxicated or by the worker trying to hurt or kill themself or someone else. Workers at places that only build, repair, or take apart small vessels are not covered unless the injury happens on the water or on nearby piers, docks, or land facilities used for launching, hauling, lifting, or drydocking vessels. But those workers are covered if the facility gets federal maritime subsidies or if the worker has no state workers’ compensation coverage. A “small vessel” means a commercial barge under 900 lightship displacement tons, or a commercial tug, towboat, crew boat, supply boat, fishing boat, or similar work vessel under 1,600 gross tons. Any payments already made under another workers’ compensation law or under 46 U.S.C. 30104 are counted against what this law would owe.