
From the U.S. Code Online via GPO Access
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[Laws in effect as of January 23, 2000]
[Document not affected by Public Laws enacted between
  January 23, 2000 and December 4, 2001]
[CITE: 43USC1347]

 
                         TITLE 43--PUBLIC LANDS
 
                       CHAPTER 29--SUBMERGED LANDS
 
              SUBCHAPTER III--OUTER CONTINENTAL SHELF LANDS
 
Sec. 1347. Safety and health regulations


(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.

(Aug. 7, 1953, ch. 345, Sec. 21, as added Pub. L. 95-372, title II, 
Sec. 208, Sept. 18, 1978, 92 Stat. 654.)

                  Section Referred to in Other Sections

    This section is referred to in section 1334 of this title.
