Guardian

INTERNATIONAL Maritime Organisation (IMO)  Maritime Safety Committee (MSC),  has resolved that rules to require passenger safety drills to take place prior to, or immediately upon, departure should be made mandatory, in the wake of the Costa Concordia incident.

The MSC also adopted a number of amendments to the International Convention for the Safety of Life at Sea (SOLAS), including a new mandatory requirement for new ships to be constructed to reduce on-board noise and to protect personnel from noise and considered a range of other issues, including piracy and armed robbery against ships and other items submitted by the IMO sub-committees.

The MSC approved a draft amendment to SOLAS regulation III/19 to require musters of newly embarked passengers prior to or immediately upon departure, instead of “within 24 hours,” as stated in the current regulations. The draft amendment will now be circulated with a view to adoption, at the next session, MSC 92, in June 2013.

The MSC adopted a new SOLAS regulation II-1/3-12 to require new ships to be constructed to reduce on-board noise and to protect personnel from noise, in accordance with the revised Code on noise levels on board ships, also adopted, which sets out mandatory maximum noise level limits for machinery spaces, control rooms, workshops, accommodation and other spaces on board ships.

The code supersedes the previous non-mandatory Code, adopted in 1981 by resolution A.468(XII).  The Code on noise levels on board ships will come into effect when the new regulation enters into force, on July 1, 2014.

The MSC also adopted the following SOLAS amendments, which are expected to enter into force on 1 July 2014:

•  Amendments to SOLAS regulation III/17-1 to require ships to have plans and procedures to recover persons from the water, as well as, related guidelines for development of plans and procedures for recovery of persons from the water. Also, a related MSC resolution on Implementation of SOLAS regulation III/17-1 to ships to which SOLAS chapter III does not apply

• Amendments to SOLAS regulation II-2/10 on fire fighting to require a minimum of duplicate two-way portable radiotelephone apparatus for each fire party for fire fighters’ communication to be carried; amendments to regulation II-2/15 on instructions, on-board training and drills, to require an on-board means of recharging breathing apparatus cylinders used during drills, or a suitable number of spare cylinders; and amendments to regulation II-2/20 on protection of vehicle, special category and ro-ro spaces related to fixed fire-extinguishing systems, and

• Amendments to the appendix to the annex to the SOLAS Convention replacing all forms of certificates and records of equipment, including its 1988 Protocol, and amendments to the forms of the Cargo Ship Safety Construction Certificate and Cargo Ship Safety Equipment Certificate of its 1978 Protocol.