8.1 General and definitions
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Statutory Documents - IMO Publications and Documents - International Codes - HSC Code - International Code of Safety for High Speed Craft, 1994 – Resolution MSC.36(63) - Annex - International Code of Safety for High Speed Craft, 1994 - Chapter 8 - Life-saving Appliances and Arrangements - 8.1 General and definitions

8.1 General and definitions

  8.1.1 Life-saving appliances and arrangements should enable abandonment of the craft in accordance with the requirements of 4.7 and 4.8.

  8.1.2 Except where otherwise provided in this Code, the life-saving appliances and arrangements required by this chapter should meet the detailed specifications set out in part C of chapter III of the Convention and be approved by the Administration.

  8.1.3 Before giving approval to life-saving appliances and arrangements, the Administration should ensure that such life-saving appliances and arrangements:

  • .1 are tested to confirm that they comply with the requirements of this chapter, in accordance with the recommendations of the Organizationfootnote; or

  • .2 have successfully undergone, to the satisfaction of the Administration, tests which are substantially equivalent to those specified in those recommendations.

  8.1.4 Before giving approval to novel life-saving appliances or arrangements, the Administration should ensure that such appliances or arrangements:

  • .1 provide safety standards at least equivalent to the requirements of this chapter and have been evaluated and tested in accordance with the recommendations of the Organizationfootnote; or

  • .2 have successfully undergone, to the satisfaction of the Administration, evaluation and tests which are substantially equivalent to those recommendations.

  8.1.5 Before accepting life-saving appliances and arrangements that have not been previously approved by the Administration, the Administration should be satisfied that life-saving appliances and arrangements comply with the requirements of this chapter.

  8.1.6 Except where otherwise provided in this Code, life-saving appliances required by this chapter for which detailed specifications are not included in part C of chapter III of the Convention should be to the satisfaction of the Administration.

  8.1.7 The Administration should require life-saving appliances to be subjected to such production tests as are necessary to ensure that the life-saving appliances are manufactured to the same standard as the approved prototype.

  8.1.8 Procedures adopted by the Administration for approval should also include the conditions whereby approval would continue or would be withdrawn

  8.1.9 The Administration should determine the period of acceptability of life-saving appliances which are subject to deterioration with age. Such life-saving appliances should be marked with a means for determining their age or the date by which they should be replaced.

  8.1.10 For the purposes of this chapter, unless expressly provided otherwise:

  • .1 "Detection" is the determination of the location of survivors or survival craft.

  • .2 "Embarkation ladder" is the ladder provided at survival craft embarkation stations to permit safe access to survival craft after launching.

  • .3 "Embarkation station" is the place from which a survival craft is boarded. An embarkation station may also serve as a muster station, provided there is sufficient room, and the muster station activities can safely take place there.

  • .4 "Float-free launching" is that method of launching a survival craft whereby the craft is automatically released from a sinking craft and is ready for use.

  • .5 "Free-fall launching" is that method of launching a survival craft whereby the craft with its complement of persons and equipment on board is released and allowed to fall into the sea without any restraining apparatus.

  • .6 "Immersion suit" is a protective suit which reduces the body heat-loss of a person wearing it in cold water.

  • .7 "Inflatable appliance" is an appliance which depends upon non-rigid, gas-filled chambers for buoyancy and which is normally kept uninflated until ready for use.

  • .8 "Inflated appliance" is an appliance which depends upon non-rigid, gas-filled chambers for buoyancy and which is normally kept inflated and ready for use at all times.

  • .9 "Launching appliance or arrangement" is a means of transferring a survival craft or rescue boat from its stowed position safely to the water.

  • .10 "Marine evacuation system"(MES) is an appliance designed to rapidly transfer large number of persons from an embarkation station by means of a passage to a floating platform for subsequent embarkation into associated survival craft or directly into associated survival craft.

  • .11 "Novel life-saving appliance or arrangement" is a life-saving appliance or arrangement which embodies new features not fully covered by the provisions of this chapter but which provides an equal or higher standard of safety.

  • .12 "Rescue boat" is a boat designed to assist and rescue persons in distress and to marshal survival craft.

  • .13 "Retrieval" is the safe recovery of survivors.

  • .14 "Retro-reflective material" is a material which reflects in the opposite direction a beam of light directed on it.

  • .15 "Survival craft" is a craft capable of sustaining the lives of persons in distress from the time of abandoning the craft.

  • .16 "Thermal protective aid" is a bag or suit of waterproof material with low thermal conductance.

Parent topic: Chapter 8 - Life-saving Appliances and Arrangements
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