Summary
The author outlines the principles underlying the standards employed by the Australian Marine Safety Authority to regulate live animal carriers, vessels used for sea transport of livestock, that operate from Australia. The standards are contained in regulations adopted by the Australian Maritime Safety Authority known as Marine Orders. The Cargo and Cargo Handling — Livestock Marine Order has evolved over time with subsequent ‘issues’ of the order as a consequence of operational experience and specific research. Recent changes have focused on the need to have adequate redundancy in systems and equipment of ships. A history of the development of these regulations is given and is followed by a description of the principles employed to develop the provisions contained in the regulations.