United States Coast Guard Releases New Version Of Cg-2692 Form For Reporting Marine Casualties, Commercial Diving Casualties, Or Outer Continental Shelf-Related Casualties

On July 1, 2016, the United States Coast Guard released an updated “Form CG-2692” for use in connection with marine casualty reporting.  The updated form was the result of a three year initiative to revise the Form CG-2692, which had remained largely unchanged for nearly 40 years.  The new version is meant to streamline the data fields of the form and decrease the burden of completing it.

The revised CG-2692 form encompasses several changes, including the following:

  • Addendum Forms:  Under the new Form CG-2692, there are now multiple addendums that are available.  These include: (1) Barge Addendum; (2) Involved Persons and Witnesses Addendum; (3) Personnel Casualty Addendum; and (4) Report of Mandatory Chemical Testing Following a Serious Marine Incident Involving Vessels in Commercial Service.  The addenda are meant to ease the burden of reporting incidents involving multiple injuries, multiple barges, or deaths.
  • Electronic Completion:  The new Form CG-2692 can now be completed entirely in electronic form, including affixing a digital signature.  This change alleviates the need to print out, sign, and subsequently fax the completed form to the Coast Guard.  Owners and operators are encouraged to work with local Coast Guard sectors to maintain the best and most up-to-date email addresses in order to electronically file the report.
  • Streamlining Form Sections:  The titles and labels in the new Form CG-2692 now align with the text and terms found in the United States statutory and regulatory language.  The “catch all” data fields on the previous form have been replaced with unique fields for data required by statute or regulation.  These unique fields are found in Section II of the new Form CG-2692.  In addition, the information now requested on the new Form CG-2692 is primarily restricted to that required by regulation, removing superfluous data fields found in the previous form.

The new Form CG-2692 and addenda, which are available on the USCG Homeport site and linked below, are to be used for all future reports of marine casualties as of July 1, 2016.

Keesal, Young & Logan Maritime Law Group

This information has been prepared by Keesal, Young & Logan for informational purposes only and is not legal advice. Transmission of the information is not intended to create, and receipt does not constitute, an attorney-client relationship between you and Keesal, Young & Logan. You should not act upon this information without seeking professional counsel.