1 The Maritime Safety Committee, at its eighty-fourth
session (7 to 16 May 2008), considered the recommendations made by
the Sub-Committee on Ship Design and Equipment at its fifty-first
session, with regard to potential risks of overheating and
dehydration associated with the wearing of immersion suits inside
totally enclosed lifeboats, and approved the following guidance.
2 Experience gained during the January 2007
abandonment of the containership MSC Napoli during
a winter storm in the English Channel highlighted the potential
risks of wearing of immersion suits in totally enclosed
lifeboats. Although outside temperatures were frigid, a number
of crew wearing immersion suits suffered from overheating and
dehydration. In document DE 51/INF.8, the Republic of Korea
reported similar experience with immersion suits worn during
abandon ship drills in moderate conditions, where crew experienced
discomfort in a very short period of time, due both to overheating
and to interference with seating arrangements.
3 Totally enclosed lifeboats have long been considered
to provide adequate protection from hypothermia without the need
for the occupants to wear immersion suits. The revised SOLAS regulation III/32 (as amended by resolution MSC.152(78)) requires to carry
immersion suits for all persons on board cargo ships, regardless
of carriage of totally enclosed lifeboats, stemming from reports
of casualties in which the ship sank too quickly for crew
to access the lifeboats. Immersion suits were required in order
to ensure that thermal protection is available in the event that
members of the crew are unable, for whatever reason, to embark on
the lifeboats.
4 In general, immersion suits should not be worn
when boarding totally enclosed lifeboats. While abandon ship
drills are a good opportunity to examine and demonstrate
the use of immersion suits, crew training during these drills
should emphasize that immersion suits are intended primarily
to ensure thermal protection in cases where the totally
enclosed lifeboat cannot be embarked on.
5 Member Governments are invited to use the aforementioned
guidance and to bring it to the attention of all parties concerned.