Question 1

If there is ever a conflict between the WAH Regulations 2010 (as supported by MGN 410) and the Code of Safe Working Practices for Merchant Seafarers (COSWP), which takes precedence?

Accepted Answer

The WAH Regulations 2010 and MGN 410 take precedence, since COSWP is guidance while the WAH Regulations are statutory law MGN 410 explicitly states this precedence: where the two sources conflict, the legally binding WAH Regulations 2010 (and the MGN supporting them) override COSWP, which remains valuable general guidance but is not itself a statutory instrument.

Question 2

What is the formal name and statutory instrument number of the regulations underpinning MGN 410 (M+F), the MCA's core work at height guidance?

Accepted Answer

The Merchant Shipping and Fishing Vessels (Health and Safety at Work) (Work at Height) Regulations 2010, SI 2010/332 These are the actual UK statutory instrument ("the WAH Regulations 2010"); MGN 410 is the MCA's guidance on how to comply with them, not the law itself. The regulations came into force on 6 April 2010, implementing EU Directive 2001/45/EC.

Question 3

How does the WAH Regulations 2010 / MGN 410 define the 'height' that triggers work-at-height obligations?

Accepted Answer

There is no fixed distance threshold — it applies to any situation where a person could fall a distance liable to result in injury, which depends on the circumstances Unlike some land-based regulations that use a fixed trigger height, the maritime WAH Regulations deliberately avoid a single number, recognising that a fall onto a hard deck, into machinery, or overboard could be injurious at heights that would seem trivial elsewhere — the assessment is circumstance-dependent.