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Notification FAQs

You must submit an event, incident, or situation notification to Maritime NZ as soon as possible after it occurs.

Why should I notify?

Maritime NZ considers all notifications relevant to our functions important. Notifications:

  • help improve safety outcomes in the maritime and port sectors
  • provide current information so we can perform our regulatory functions.

There are also legal obligations for masters and organisations, so some notifications are mandatory. These obligations come from the Maritime Transport Act 1994 and the Health and Safety at Work Act 2015.

What do I need to notify?

There are three main types of notifications: events, incidents, and situations.

 

Events

Events include accidents and serious‑harm injuries or illnesses.

 

Accidents are instances of damage to a vessel that may affect its seaworthiness, such as:

  • groundings
  • collisions
  • machinery failures
  • steering loss.

 

Serious‑harm injuries or illnesses may include:

  • death
  • amputation
  • burns
  • loss of consciousness
  • injuries that normally require admission to hospital for immediate treatment.

 

Incidents

Incidents are occurrences, other than accidents, that:

  • are associated with the operation of a ship, and
  • affect, or could affect, the safety of operation.

 

Situations

Situations include anything that could, or has the potential to, cause serious harm to:

  • people
  • vessels
  • equipment
  • the environment.

 

Use the online notification tool to make an event, incident, or situation notification:

Other notification types include:

Protected disclosures, whistleblowing

  • notifiable particular hazardous work
  • general worker concerns
  • requests to resolve cessation‑of‑work issues
  • requests to resolve workplace health and safety issues
  • requests for internal review of a reviewable decision
  • requests to review a provisional improvement notice, PIN
  • other notifications not covered by the categories above.

 

For more information on these notification types, or to make these notifications, go to the main notifications page:

What is a notifiable injury or illness under HSWA

A notifiable injury or illness is a specified serious work-related injury or illness.

All injuries or illnesses that require, or would usually require, a person to be admitted to hospital for immediate treatment are notifiable.

“Admitted to hospital” means being admitted as an inpatient for any length of time. It does not include being taken to hospital for outpatient treatment by a hospital’s emergency department, or for corrective surgery at a later time, such as straightening a broken nose.

Other types of injuries and illnesses that also require notification are set out below.

What is a Notifiable Incident?

A notifiable incident under the Health and Safety at Work Act 2015 (HSWA) is an unplanned or uncontrolled incident related to a workplace that exposes a worker, or any other person, to a serious risk to that person’s health or safety.

That serious risk must arise from an immediate or imminent exposure to a range of dangerous activities, including:

  • a substance leak
  • an implosion, explosion, or fire
  • the escape of gas or steam
  • the escape, spillage, or leakage of a pressurised substance
  • an electric shock
  • the fall or release from height of any plant, substance, or thing
  • the collapse, overturning, failure, malfunction, or damage to any plant
  • the collapse or partial collapse of a structure
  • the collapse or failure of an excavation, or any shoring supporting an excavation
  • an inrush of water, mud, or gas in workings in an underground excavation or tunnel, or interruption of the main system of ventilation in these places
  • a collision between two vessels, a vessel capsize, or an inrush of water into a vessel.

How do I notify?

The quickest way to notify Maritime NZ is to use the online notifications tool. It guides you through all the information we need.

If you cannot access the online tool, you can email details to:

[email protected]

Please include as much detail as possible, including:

  • what happened
  • when it happened
  • where it happened, including the geographical location
  • who was involved
  • any immediate actions taken.

Can I notify anonymously?

You need to give Maritime NZ your name and a way to contact you, either an email address or a phone number. We may need to discuss your notification in more detail and this is how we will keep you informed about what actions, if any, we take.

If you have concerns about confidentiality or potential repercussions, you can make a protected disclosure (whistleblowing).