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Title 43, Public LandsRelease 119-110

§1347 Safety and Health Regulations

Title 43 › CHAPTER 29 — SUBMERGED LANDS › SUBCHAPTER III — OUTER CONTINENTAL SHELF LANDS › § 1347

Last updated Sep 22, 2026|Official source

Summary

On September 18, 1978, the Secretary and the head of the department that runs the Coast Guard must start a joint study of whether current safety and health rules are good enough for exploring, developing, and producing minerals on the outer Continental Shelf. They must look at the rules and the available technology, equipment, and methods. The study results go to the President, who must send a safety plan to Congress. The Secretaries must require the safest, best-available technologies that are affordable on new drilling and production work and, when practical, on existing work, if equipment failure could seriously harm people or the environment. The Coast Guard department head must make rules for unregulated dangerous work and can change those rules later. Labor, EPA, and Transportation safety powers stay the same. The Secretary of Commerce, with others, will study diving safety and gear. The Secretary must coordinate with other agencies and publish a yearly list of all federal safety rules that apply to outer Continental Shelf activities.

Full Legal Text

Title 43, §1347

Public Lands, Source: USLM XML via OLRC

(a)Joint study of adequacy of existing safety and health regulations; submission to President and Congress
Upon September 18, 1978, the Secretary and the Secretary of the Department in which the Coast Guard is operating shall, in consultation with each other and, as appropriate, with the heads of other Federal departments and agencies, promptly commence a joint study of the adequacy of existing safety and health regulations and of the technology, equipment, and techniques available for the exploration, development, and production of the minerals of the outer Continental Shelf. The results of such study shall be submitted to the President who shall submit a plan to the Congress of his proposals to promote safety and health in the exploration, development, and production of the minerals of the outer Continental Shelf.
(b)Use of best available and safest economically feasible technologies
In exercising their respective responsibilities for the artificial islands, installations, and other devices referred to in section 1333(a)(1) of this title, the Secretary, and the Secretary of the Department in which the Coast Guard is operating, shall require, on all new drilling and production operations and, wherever practicable, on existing operations, the use of the best available and safest technologies which the Secretary determines to be economically feasible, wherever failure of equipment would have a significant effect on safety, health, or the environment, except where the Secretary determines that the incremental benefits are clearly insufficient to justify the incremental costs of utilizing such technologies.
(c)Regulations applying to unregulated hazardous working conditions
The Secretary of the Department in which the Coast Guard is operating shall promulgate regulations or standards applying to unregu­lated hazardous working conditions related to activities on the outer Continental Shelf when he determines such regulations or standards are necessary. The Secretary of the Department in which the Coast Guard is operating may from time to time modify any regulations, interim or final, dealing with hazardous working conditions on the outer Continental Shelf.
(d)Application of other laws
Nothing in this subchapter shall affect the authority provided by law to the Secretary of Labor for the protection of occupational safety and health, the authority provided by law to the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency for the protection of the environment, or the authority provided by law to the Secretary of Transportation with respect to pipeline safety.
(e)Studies of underwater diving techniques and equipment
The Secretary of Commerce, in cooperation with the Secretary of the Department in which the Coast Guard is operating, and the Director of the National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health, shall conduct studies of underwater diving techniques and equipment suitable for protection of human safety and improvement of diver performance. Such studies shall include, but need not be limited to, decompression and excursion table development and improvement and all aspects of diver physiological restraints and protective gear for exposure to hostile environments.
(f)Coordination and consultation with Federal departments and agencies; availability to interested persons of compilation of safety regulations
(1)In administering the provisions of this section, the Secretary shall consult and coordinate with the heads of other appropriate Federal departments and agencies for purposes of assuring that, to the maximum extent practicable, inconsistent or duplicative requirements are not imposed.
(2)The Secretary shall make available to any interested person a compilation of all safety and other regulations which are prepared and promulgated by any Federal department or agency and applicable to activities on the outer Continental Shelf. Such compilation shall be revised and updated annually.

Legislative History

Notes & Related Subsidiaries

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.

Reference

Citations & Metadata

Citation

43 U.S.C. § 1347

Title 43, Public Lands

Last Updated

Sep 22, 2026

Release point: 119-110