Statutory Instruments

1993 No. 3231

MERCHANT SHIPPING

SAFETY

The Merchant Shipping (Musters and Training) (Amendment) Regulations 1993

Made

21st December 1993

Laid before Parliament

7th January 1994

Coming into force

31st January 1994

The Secretary of State for Transport, after consulting the persons referred to in section 22(2) of the Merchant Shipping Act 1979(1), in exercise of the powers conferred on him by sections 21(1)(a), (b) and (c) and (3) and 22(1)(2) of that Act and of all other powers enabling him in that behalf, hereby makes the following Regulations:—

1.—(1) These Regulations may be cited as the Merchant Shipping (Musters and Training) (Amendment) Regulations 1993 and shall come into force on 31st January 1994.

(2) These Regulations give effect, in part, to the International Convention for the Safety of Life at Sea, 1974(3) and amendments thereto, and to the extent they are made under section 21(1)(c) of the Merchant Shipping Act 1979 are made only for the purpose of applying to certain ships to which the said agreements do not apply the provisions of the said agreements given effect under section 21(1)(b) of the said Act.

2.  The Merchant Shipping (Musters and Training) Regulations 1986(4) are hereby amended as follows.

3.  In regulation 3(2) the following proviso shall be added at the end—

4.  In regulation 6, paragraph (6) shall be omitted, paragraphs (7) to (10) renumbered (6) to (9), and the following paragraphs added at the end—

(10) Each fire drill shall include:

(a)reporting to stations and preparing for the duties described in the muster list referred to in regulation 4(2).

(b)starting a fire pump and, using at least two jets of water to show that the system is in proper working order, except that one jet only may be used in the case of the following ships—

(i)ships of Class IIA of under 21.34 metres in length:

(ii)ships of Class III;

(iii)ships of Class VII, VII(A), VIII, VIII(T), VIII(A) and IX, VII(T) and XI, of under 500 tons;

(c)checking fireman’s outfits and other personal rescue equipment;

(d)checking the relevant communication equipment;

(e)checking the operation of watertight doors, fire doors, and fire dampers;

(f)checking the necessary arrangements for subsequent abandonment of the ship.

(11) The equipment used during drills shall immediately be brought back to its fully operational condition, and any faults and defects discovered during the drills shall be remedied as soon as possible.

(12) Drills shall, as far as practicable, be conducted as if there were an actual emergency..

5.  In regulation 7(2) the words “and in the use of the ship’s fire-extinguishing appliances” shall be inserted after the words “survival craft equipment,”.

6.  Paragraph (3) of regulation 7 shall be replaced by the following paragraph—

(3) Instructions in the use of the ship’s life-saving appliances, in survival at sea and in the use of the ship’s fire extinguishing appliances shall be given at the same interval as the drills. Individual instruction may cover different parts of the ship’s life-saving system and fire extinguishing appliances, but all the ship’s life-saving equipment and appliances and fire-extinguishing appliances shall be covered within any period of 2 months.Each member of the crew shall be given instructions which shall include but not necessarily be limited to:

(a)operation and use of the ship’s inflatable liferafts;

(b)problems of hypothermia, first-aid treatment for hypothermia and other appropriate first-aid procedures;

(c)special instructions necessary for use of the ship’s life-saving appliances in severe weather and severe sea conditions;

(d)operation and use of fire-extinguishing appliances..

Signed by authority of the Secretary of State for Transport

Caithness

Minister of State

Department of Transport

21st December 1993

Explanatory Note

(This note is not part of the Regulation)

These Regulations amend the Merchant Shipping (Musters and Training) Regulations 1986, to implement the amendments made to regulation 18 of Chapter III of the Safety of Life at Sea Convention 1974 adopted by the Maritime Safety Committee of the International Maritime Organisation on 23 May 1991 (Resolution MSC.22(59)), both for ships to which the Convention applies, and for certain other ships.

They provide specific requirements as to drills and instructions in the use of fire extinguishing appliances.

Copies of the IMO Resolution may be obtained from the International Maritime Organisation, 4 Albert Embankment, London SE1 7SR.

(2)

Section 21(1)(c) was added by the Safety at Sea Act 1986, s.11.

(3)

Cmnd 7874.

(4)

S.I. 1986/1071.