Are Your Freight And Passenger Vessels Legally Safe?

UK - IMO, the International Maritime Organization, is the United Nations specialized agency with responsibility for the safety and security of shipping and the prevention of marine pollution by ships. The organization has just announced that the 2010 edition of Life‑Saving Appliances is now available. This publication includes the latest consolidated versions of the mandatory International Life-Saving Appliance (LSA) Code, the Revised Recommendation on Testing of Life-Saving Appliances and the Code of Practice for the Evaluation, Testing and Acceptance of Prototype Novel Life-Saving Appliances and is an essential guidance aid for all ship owners and operators from Post Panamax bulk carriers to fishing vessels.

The updated requirements and recommendations in the new edition include those relating to:

• stowage, fitting and equipment of liferafts;

• certification and fitting of lifeboats;

• new requirements for fast rescue boats;

• requirements for lifeboat and rescue boat launching appliances;

• carrying capacity of free-fall lifeboats;

• changes in the average weight of persons to be used for the design and equipment of life‑saving appliances;

• extensive new requirements for lifejackets, including the introduction of infant and child lifejackets;

• extensive associated changes to testing requirements for live-saving appliances, including the introduction of reference test devices.

Copies of the publication are available from authorized distributors of IMO publications and the IMO online bookshop.