Incident notification process

Timing of notification and holding the scene

Your first priority is to make the scene safe to prevent any further harm, and to provide first aid to anyone who needs it, before you notify Maritime NZ. You must then notify us immediately about the incident.

As far as is reasonably practicable, you must also make sure the incident site is not disturbed until Maritime NZ releases the scene.

How to notify us

During business hours

To notify us of an event, incident, or situation during business hours (9 am to 4.30 pm, Monday to Friday), complete our online notification form. [call to action]

During business hours, our notifications and enquiries team monitors new notifications. They will review the notification and contact you for more information if needed.

To notify us about one of the other notification types, use our contact us page.

After hours

To notify Maritime NZ about an actual or potential loss of life, serious injury, serious damage to a vessel or port, or serious pollution on weekends, New Zealand public holidays, and on weekdays between 4.30 pm and 9 am NZT, call 0508 22 55 22.

To notify Maritime NZ about all other types of events, incidents, or situations after hours, use our notification form.

How we will handle your notification

When we receive your notification, we will categorise it as high, medium, or low based on our understanding of the harm, or risk of harm, that occurred.

If we receive a high-rated notification, we will:

• contact the notifier or the duty holder as soon as possible, and within 4 hours, to verify the information we have received and to make sure the site has been made safe
• decide whether the scene should be preserved, and when we will attend.

In most cases we will start an investigation into a high-rated notification.

If we receive a medium-rated notification, we will assess whether the scene needs to be preserved.

If the scene needs to be preserved, we will contact the notifier or the duty holder within 4 hours to verify the information we have received and to make sure the site has been made safe. We will also provide a timeframe for when we will attend.

If the scene does not need to be preserved, we will contact the notifier or duty holder within 5 working days to verify the information we have received and to start a response to the notification.

In most cases we will start an inspection in response to a medium-rated notification.