The specifications for Sea Freight Container Inspection Stands (the specifications) outlines the design and maintenance requirements of support structures (stands) for sea freight containers, provided by other premises such as Approved Arrangement sites. It is applicable to stands used by Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry officers to inspect the undersides of sea freight containers for potential biosecurity risk material.
Site operators have a number of responsibilities regarding the safe use of stands for departmental officers and site staff. This includes ensuring correct placement on a suitable hardstand surface, conducting a visual inspection of mobile stands after each movement to confirm no obvious faults have resulted from the move, ensuring relevant stand training for site operator staff, and compliance with regular certification schedules.
All sea container inspection stands must be inspected and certified by an Engineers Australia assessed engineer, as set out in the specifications, prior to being approved by the department for use.
To register a new or an existing stand back into service with the department please submit a Statement of Certification form (Appendix A) completed by an Engineers Australia approved certifying engineer, as well as all required supporting materials. This includes photographs of the stand and certification plate clearly showing the required details.
This information can be emailed to: seafreightstands@awe.gov.au
An inspection stand must not be used until it is registered and acknowledgement by the department. Please ensure all relevant fields on the form are completed correctly, as an incorrect or incomplete submission may delay the registration process.
Where an incident involving damage or potentially damage (including impacts) to a stand has occurred, the site operator must remove the stand from use, mark the stand as out of service at the time of damage and immediately notify the department via email: seafreightstands@awe.gov.au
The stand must then be inspected by an approved Engineers Australia endorsed inspector/ engineer and assessed and actioned as appropriate against the Criteria for limiting defects and associated repair action (table 1) in the Accident & Inspection Report.
Further information on damaged stands can be found in the specifications (section 5.2 ‘Damage or faults and section 6.2.3 ‘Inspection requirements after accidents or impacts to stands).
For further information regarding engineer qualifications and assessment, as well as stand inspection/maintenance schedules, please refer to specification sections:
- 6.1 Qualifications, competencies and requirements,
- 6.2 Inspection and maintenance schedule.
Engineers Australia can be contacted directly regarding the assessment process and for a list of assessed engineers email: seafreight@engineersaustralia.org.au
For further information regarding the specifications for sea freight container inspection stands, email: seafreightstands@awe.gov.au
The department also provides information on changes to import requirements, through our Import Industry Advice Notices. Click to subscribe to Import Industry Advice Notices.
Download
Specifications for sea freight container inspection stands (PDF 1.6 MB)
Specifications for sea freight container inspection stands (DOCX 847 KB)
Appendix A – Statement of Certification (DOCX 71 KB)
Appendix B – Accident and Inspection Report (DOCX 75 KB)
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See. Secure. Report.
If you see something that could have entered Australia with imported goods report it to See. Secure. Report. on 1800 798 636 or complete the online form.