§1348 — Title 43 Public Lands | U.S. Code

Summary

Three federal department heads must enforce safety and environmental rules for activities on the outer Continental Shelf. They can use staff, services, or facilities from other federal agencies to help. People who hold leases or permits there must keep work places safe and follow health, safety, and environmental rules. They must also let inspectors onto the site quickly and give them any records the inspectors need. Officials must set rules for and carry out inspections. Every facility must get a scheduled onsite inspection at least once a year that checks safety gear meant to stop or lessen blowouts, fires, spills, or other big accidents. Officials can also make unannounced inspections. They must investigate and publicly report every major fire and every major oil spill, and they may investigate smaller spills. Major oil spillage: more than two hundred barrels of oil in one instance during a period of thirty days. They must investigate and report any death or serious injury and may look into lesser injuries. Serious injury: a harm that causes substantial impairment of any bodily unit or function. Officials may review any safety complaint from anyone. In investigations they can summon witnesses, require papers and records, compel attendance like a federal court, and give oaths.

Title 43, §1348

Public Lands — Source: USLM XML via OLRC

(a)The Secretary, the Secretary of the Department in which the Coast Guard is operating, and the Secretary of the Army shall enforce safety and environmental regulations promulgated pursuant to this subchapter. Each such Federal department may by agreement utilize, with or without reimbursement, the services, personnel, or facilities of other Federal departments and agencies for the enforcement of their respective regulations.

(b)It shall be the duty of any holder of a lease or permit under this subchapter to—

(1)maintain all places of employment within the lease area or within the area covered by such permit in compliance with occupational safety and health standards and, in addition, free from recognized hazards to employees of the lease holder or permit holder or of any contractor or subcontractor operating within such lease area or within the area covered by such permit on the outer Continental Shelf;

(2)maintain all operations within such lease area or within the area covered by such permit in compliance with regulations intended to protect persons, property, and the environment on the outer Continental Shelf; and

(3)allow prompt access, at the site of any operation subject to safety regulations, to any inspector, and to provide such documents and records which are pertinent to occupational or public health, safety, or environmental protection, as may be requested.

(c)The Secretary and the Secretary of the Department in which the Coast Guard is operating shall individually, or jointly if they so agree, promulgate regulations to provide for—

(1)scheduled onsite inspection, at least once a year, of each facility on the outer Continental Shelf which is subject to any environmental or safety regulation promulgated pursuant to this subchapter, which inspection shall include all safety equipment designed to prevent or ameliorate blowouts, fires, spillages, or other major accidents; and

(2)periodic onsite inspection without advance notice to the operator of such facility to assure compliance with such environmental or safety regulations.

(d)(1)The Secretary or the Secretary of the Department in which the Coast Guard is operating shall make an investigation and public report on each major fire and each major oil spillage occurring as a result of operations conducted pursuant to this subchapter, and may, in his discretion, make an investigation and report of lesser oil spillages. For purposes of this subsection, a major oil spillage is any spillage in one instance of more than two hundred barrels of oil during a period of thirty days. All holders of leases or permits issued or maintained under this subchapter shall cooperate with the appropriate Secretary in the course of any such investigation.

(2)The Secretary or the Secretary of the Department in which the Coast Guard is operating shall make an investigation and public report on any death or serious injury occurring as a result of operations conducted pursuant to this subchapter, and may, in his discretion, make an investigation and report of any injury. For purposes of this subsection, a serious injury is one resulting in substantial impairment of any bodily unit or function. All holders of leases or permits issued or maintained under this subchapter shall cooperate with the appropriate Secretary in the course of any such investigation.

(e)The Secretary, or, in the case of occupational safety and health, the Secretary of the Department in which the Coast Guard is operating, may review any allegation from any person of the existence of a violation of a safety regulation issued under this subchapter.

(f)In any investigation conducted pursuant to this section, the Secretary or the Secretary of the Department in which the Coast Guard is operating shall have power to summon witnesses and to require the production of books, papers, documents, and any other evidence. Attendance of witnesses or the production of books, papers, documents, or any other evidence shall be compelled by a similar process, as in the district courts of the United States. Such Secretary, or his designee, shall administer all necessary oaths to any witnesses summoned before such investigation.

Notes & Related Subsidiaries

Editorial Notes

Amendments

1998—Subsec. (g). Pub. L. 105–362 struck out subsec. (g) which read as follows: “The Secretary shall, after consultation with the Secretary of the Department in which the Coast Guard is operating, include in his annual report to the Congress required by section 1343 of this title the number of violations of safety

Regulations

reported or alleged, any investigations undertaken, the results of such investigations, and any administrative or judicial action taken as a result of such investigations, and the results of the diving studies conducted under section 1347(e) of this title.”

Statutory Notes and Related Subsidiaries

Transfer of Functions

For transfer of authorities, functions, personnel, and assets of the Coast Guard, including the authorities and functions of the Secretary of Transportation relating thereto, to the Department of Homeland Security, and for treatment of related references, see section 468(b), 551(d), 552(d), and 557 of Title 6, Domestic Security, and the Department of Homeland Security Reorganization Plan of November 25, 2002, as modified, set out as a note under section 542 of Title 6. Report and Recommendations by Secretary to Congress for Training Program Pub. L. 95–372, title VI, § 607, Sept. 18, 1978, 92 Stat. 697, required the Secretary of the Interior, in consultation with the Secretary of the Department in which the Coast Guard is operating, not later than ninety days after Sept. 18, 1978, to prepare and submit to the Congress a training program report concerning individuals employed on any artificial island, installation, or other device located on the Outer Continental Shelf and who, as part of their employment, operate or supervise the operation of pollution-prevention equipment.

§1348 Enforcement of safety and environmental regulations