The Offshore Installations and Wells (Design and Construction, etc.) Regulations 1996

InterpretationE+W+S

2.—(1) In these Regulations, unless the context otherwise requires—

• “the [F12005] Regulations" means the Offshore Installations (Safety Case) Regulations [F12005];

• F2...

• M1“the 1995 Regulations" means the Offshore Installations and Pipeline Works (Management and Administration) Regulations 1995 ;

• [F3“the 2013 Order” means the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974 (Application outside Great Britain) Order 2013;

• “the 2015 Regulations” means the Offshore Installations (Offshore Safety Directive) (Safety Case etc.) Regulations 2015;]

• F4...

• “duty holder" in relation to an installation, means the person who is the duty holder as defined by regulation 2(1) of the 1995 Regulations in relation to that installation;

• “environmental conditions" means—

  (a)

  meteorological and oceanological conditions; and

  (b)

  properties and configuration of the sea-bed and subsoil;

• “the Executive" means the Health and Safety Executive;

• [F5“external waters" means the territorial sea adjacent to Great Britain and any area designated by order under section 1(7) of the Continental Shelf Act 1964;]

• “fixed installation" means an installation other than a mobile installation;

• “installation" means an offshore installation within the meaning of regulation 3, except sub-paragraphs (a) and (b), and paragraph (ii) of sub-paragraph (c) of paragraph (3), of the 1995 Regulations;

• “integrity" means structural soundness and strength, stability and, in the case of a floating installation, buoyancy in so far as they are relevant to the health and safety of persons;

• [F6“licensee”—

  (a)

  in relation to a well in Great Britain and any activity in relation to that well, means any person to whom a licence to search and bore for and get petroleum is granted pursuant to section 2 of the Petroleum (Production) Act 1934 or section 3 of the Petroleum Act 1998; and

  (b)

  in relation to a well in external waters and any activity in relation to that well, means an offshore licensee as defined in regulation 2(1) of the Offshore Petroleum Licensing (Offshore Safety Directive) Regulations 2015;]

• “management system" means the organisation and arrangements established by a person for managing his undertaking;

• “mobile installation" means an installation F7... which can be moved from place to place without major dismantling or modification, whether or not it has its own motive power;

• “safety case" means a document described in regulation 2(2) of the [F82005] Regulations [F9or regulation 2(2) of the 2015 Regulations] which is required to be prepared pursuant to a provision of those Regulations;

• “traffic route" means a route for pedestrians, vehicles or both and includes any stairs, staircase, fixed ladder, doorway, gateway, loading bay or ramp;

• “well" means—

  (a)

  a well made by drilling; and

  (b)

  a borehole drilled with a view to the extraction of minerals through it or another well,

  and shall be deemed to include any device on it for containing the pressure in it;

• “well intervention operation" means an operation in which a well is re-entered for a purpose other than to continue drilling or to maintain or repair it;

• [F10“well operator”—

  (a)

  in relation to a well in Great Britain, means the person appointed by the licensee for the well to execute the function of organising and supervising all operations to be carried out by means of such well or, where no such person has been appointed, the licensee; and

  (b)

  in relation to a well in external waters, has the meaning given in regulation 2 of the Offshore Petroleum Licensing (Offshore Safety Directive) Regulations 2015;]

• “workover operation" means an operation in which a well is re-entered for the purpose of maintaining or repairing it; and

• “workplace" means any workroom or other place on an installation used mainly for the performance of work, and does not include a traffic route.

(2) Any reference in these Regulations to operating an installation is a reference to using it for any of the purposes described in regulation 3(1) of the 1995 Regulations.

(3) Where a duty holder in relation to an installation, or a well-operator, is succeeded by a new duty holder or well-operator, anything done in compliance with these Regulations by the former duty holder or operator in relation to the installation or the well shall, for the purpose of these Regulations, be treated as having been done by his successor.

(4) Unless the context otherwise requires—

(a)any reference in these Regulations (apart from Schedule 2) to—

(i)a numbered regulation or Schedule is a reference to the regulation or Schedule in these Regulations so numbered; and

(ii)a numbered paragraph is a reference to the paragraph so numbered in the regulation or Schedule in which the reference appears; F11...

F12(b). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .