Recommendation 28: MAIB duty and powers to assist formal investigations

We recommend that the duties of the Chief Inspector of Marine Accidents to assist an FI be reviewed in order to ensure that the MAIB has a duty to assist and that, in the discharge of that duty, it has power to appoint inspectors for the purposes of the FI, with all the powers of inspectors appointed under the 1995 Act. We recommend that there be a simple change to the statute to the effect that, for the purposes of the discharge of his duty, the Chief Inspector shall have the powers of an inspector and the power to appoint an inspector and that such an inspector shall have all the powers of an inspector under section 259 of the 1995 Act. In the meantime I recommend that the Secretary of State make an appropriate determination under section 267(7) of the 1995 Act.