According to the Statutory Instrument published on legislation.gov.uk, the Offshore Installations (Safety Zones) Order 2026 was made at 11.20 am on 15 June 2026 and will come into force on 6 July 2026. The measure was signed by Stephen Timms, Minister of State at the Department for Work and Pensions, acting on the authority of the Secretary of State. Made under section 22 of the Petroleum Act 1987, the Order gives effect to proposals submitted by the Health and Safety Executive under section 24(2A). Its main purpose is to preserve statutory exclusion zones around offshore infrastructure during decommissioning and dismantling work.
Article 2 establishes a safety zone with a radius of 500 metres around each of the three installations named in the Schedule: Global Producer III, Solan and Wenlock. The Explanatory Note describes all three as subsea installations stationed in waters to which section 21(7) of the 1987 Act applies, covering territorial waters and designated continental shelf areas. The legal boundary for each zone is tied to coordinates set out in the Schedule using the World Geodetic System 1984. In regulatory terms, that keeps the protected area precise and chartable, which matters for both navigation and enforcement.
The Explanatory Note explains that each of the three sites already benefited from an automatic safety zone. This Order replicates those automatic zones so that protections continue while dismantling is carried through to completion. The timetable differs across the assets. Global Producer III is intended to be removed by the end of 2027, Solan by the end of 2029, and Wenlock is already being dismantled. The practical effect is continuity: the move into decommissioning does not create a gap in access controls while offshore works remain active.
The restriction on entry remains rooted in section 23(1) of the Petroleum Act 1987. Vessels may not enter or remain within a safety zone unless the Health and Safety Executive gives consent, or entry is permitted under regulations made under the Act. The statutory definition is broad and includes hovercraft, submersible apparatus and installations in transit. For offshore operators, support vessels and bridge teams, the compliance point is straightforward. Passage planning still needs to reflect the exclusion radius, and any necessary access must sit within the HSE consent framework or an existing regulatory exception, including the route now set out in regulation 21H of the Offshore Installations and Pipeline Works (Management and Administration) Regulations 1995.
Articles 3 and 4 make smaller but still material changes to the existing legal framework. The Order removes the entries for Thames Bure Wellhead and Thames Yare Wellhead from the Offshore Installations (Safety Zones) Order 1997, and removes the entry for Victoria Subsea Production Well (49/17-14), Block 49/17, Victoria Field from the Offshore Installations (Safety Zones) (No. 7) Order 2007. That housekeeping matters because safety zone law is only effective if the statutory record matches the offshore estate in practice. Removing redundant entries reduces the risk of outdated charting assumptions, compliance errors or unnecessary ambiguity about which protected areas remain in force.
The Explanatory Note also points mariners towards the United Kingdom Hydrographic Office, which publishes charts showing safety zone information where scale permits, and towards Notices to Mariners, electronic chart updating services and radio navigational warnings. It further notes that maritime safety information is disseminated through the relevant International Maritime Organisation Global Maritime Distress and Safety System broadcasts. No full impact assessment has been prepared because the government does not expect a significant effect on the private, voluntary or public sector. Even so, the operational effect is clear. The Order maintains enforceable 500-metre standoff distances around three decommissioning sites while the statute book is updated to remove three older zones that are no longer needed.