UK sets 500m safety zones around two offshore sites

If you study maritime safety or plan passages in UK waters, here’s the update you need. From 29 December 2025, a new Statutory Instrument establishes 500 metre safety zones around two subsea installations listed in its Schedule. The Order was made on 8 December and signed by Minister of State Stephen Timms by authority of the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, as recorded on legislation.gov.uk. These zones apply in waters covered by section 21(7) of the Petroleum Act 1987, which includes UK territorial waters and areas of the continental shelf designated by the UK. In plain terms, that means waters where UK law regulates offshore oil and gas activity.

A safety zone is a legally protected circle at sea. Draw a 500 metre radius from the installation’s reference point and you have an area where entry is controlled to reduce collision and entanglement risks during drilling, production, or decommissioning. In this Order, each zone is centred on precise latitude and longitude given in the Schedule, so everyone-bridge teams, ROV pilots, fishers-can work from the same fixed point.

Who must keep clear? Section 23(1) of the Petroleum Act 1987 says vessels may not enter or remain in a safety zone unless they have consent from the Health and Safety Executive or fall within exceptions in regulations. The law treats hovercraft, submersible apparatus and even installations in transit as “vessels” for this purpose. The current operational detail sits in regulation 21H of the Offshore Installations and Pipeline Works (Management and Administration) Regulations 1995, as updated in 2015. If you think you need to be inside the circle, you should assume you need HSE consent.

Why is it always 500 metres? The 500 metre distance has become the standard protective bubble around offshore installations used by the UK since the late 1980s and widely adopted internationally. It’s large enough to give dynamic positioning and anchor spreads a margin for error, and to keep towed gear clear of subsea structures, but small enough to chart clearly and enforce. For you as a navigator, that fixed number means consistent, recognisable zones across charts and advisories.

The coordinates in this Order are on WGS84-the global geodetic reference frame maintained by the US National Geospatial‑Intelligence Agency and updated in January 2025. If your ECDIS or plotter isn’t set to WGS84, a datum mismatch can shift the plotted position by tens to hundreds of metres. Before you plot the Schedule’s points, confirm the datum, enter the latitude and longitude exactly as published, and then check that your range ring really does mark 0.5 nautical kilometres from the stated point.

UK Hydrographic Office (UKHO) charts show safety zones and, where scale allows, their positions. Mariners should keep paper charts current with Notices to Mariners or ensure electronic charts receive updates. The International Convention for the Safety of Life at Sea (SOLAS) requires suitable charts and publications to plan, display and monitor routes; for some vessels the Merchant Shipping (Safety of Navigation) Regulations 2020 make this compulsory. Until chart updates land, UKHO broadcasts Radio Navigational Warnings, and safety zone information also goes out via the IMO’s GMDSS under the World‑Wide Navigational Warning Service.

One detail worth noting from the Explanatory Note: the installation known as Galahad is being dismantled. It previously benefited from an automatic safety zone. To maintain protection while dismantlement continues, this Order replicates that zone as an explicit, chartable 500 metre safety zone. That keeps workers safe and gives mariners clarity during a period when infrastructure is changing shape and risk.

The Order also tidies up the chart: four older safety zones are removed. These are the Chestnut Field entries from two 2007 Orders, a Chestnut Field entry from a 2008 Order, and a Kingfisher entry from a 2022 Order. If you still have legacy notes or manual danger marks tied to “Chestnut Field Well 22/2A‑12”, “Well 22‑11x”, “Chestnut Field Well 22/2A‑15”, or “Kingfisher BP1.1 Wellhead, Block 16/8a”, update your materials to avoid unnecessary deviations.

Here’s how to work with a safety zone in practice. Confirm your equipment is set to WGS84, then plot the Schedule’s coordinates as a waypoint. Create a 500 metre radius ring around that point and plan your track to remain outside the circle with a sensible clearance for conditions and traffic. Cross‑check the position against the latest UKHO chart and any recent navigational warnings. If an operation requires entry-survey, guard vessel, standby cover-seek HSE consent in good time and carry the documentation on the bridge.

For learners and teachers, this Order is a solid case study in how technical standards turn into real‑world safety. You can explore how a legal reference (Petroleum Act 1987, sections 21–23) ties to an engineering reality (subsea structures), a geodesy standard (WGS84), and an everyday workflow (chart updates, GMDSS messages). The outcome is simple: from 29 December 2025, two specific subsea sites have enforceable 500 metre safety zones; four older zones fall away; and everyone at sea should plan with that in mind. That’s good media literacy-and safer navigation.