Sunday 30 December 2012

Thermal protective aids

Thermal protective aids
Thermal protective aids
A thermal protective aid shall be made of waterproof material having a thermal conductance of not more
than 7800 W/(m2.K) and shall be so constructed that, when used to enclose a person, it shall reduce both
the convective and evaporative heat loss from the wearer's body.

™ The thermal protective aid shall:
™ cover the whole body of persons of all sizes wearing a lifejacket with the exception of
™ the face. Hands shall also be covered unless permanently attached gloves are provided;
™ be capable of being unpacked and easily donned without assistance in a survival craft
™ or rescue boat; 
™ permit the wearer to remove it in the water in not more than 2 min, if it impairs ability
™ to swim.

The thermal protective aid shall function properly throughout an air temperature range -30°C to +20°C.
 

Anti-exposure suits

Anti-exposure suits
Anti-exposure suits
The anti-exposure suit shall be constructed with waterproof materials such that it:
™ provides inherent buoyancy of at least 70 N;
™ is made of material which reduces the risk of heat stress during rescue and evacuation 
™ operations;
™ covers the whole body with the exception of the head and hands and, where the
Administration so permits, feet; gloves and a hood shall be provided in such a manner
as to remain available for use with the anti-exposure suits;
™ can be unpacked and donned without assistance within 2 min;
™ does not sustain burning or continue melting after being totally enveloped in a fire for a
period of 2 seconds;
™ is equipped with a pocket for a portable VHF telephone; 
™ has a lateral field of vision of at least 120°.

An anti-exposure suit which also complies with the requirements of life-jackets may be classified
as a life-jacket.

An anti-exposure suit shall permit the person wearing it:
™ to climb up and down a vertical ladder of at least 5 m in length;
™ to jump from a height of not less than 4.5 m into the water with feet first, without
damaging or dislodging the suit, or being injured; 
™ to swim through the water at least 25 m and board a survival craft; 
™ to don a lifejacket without assistance; and
™ to perform all duties associated with abandonment, assist others and operate a rescue
boat.
 An anti-exposure suit shall be fitted with a light complying with the requirements for life jackets.

An anti-exposure suit shall:
™ if made of material which has no inherent insulation, be marked with instructions that it must be worn in conjunction with warm
clothing; 
™ be so constructed, that when worn as marked, the suit continues to provide sufficient thermal protection following one jump
into the water which totally submerges the wearer and shall ensure that when it is worn in calm circulating water at a
temperature of 5°C, the wearer's body core temperature does not fall at a rate of more than 1.5°C per hour, after the first 0.5
hours.
A person in fresh water wearing an anti-exposure suit complying with the requirements of this section shall be able to turn from a face-
down to a face-up position in not more than 5 seconds and shall be stable face-up. The suit shall have no tendency to turn the wearer
face-down in moderate sea condition.

The immersion suit

The immersion suit
The immersion suit
The immersion suit shall be constructed with waterproof materials such that:
™ it can be unpacked and donned without assistance within 2 min, taking into account any associated clothing*, and a lifejacket
if the immersion suit is to be worn in conjunction with a lifejacket;
™ it will not sustain burning or continue melting after being totally enveloped in a fire for a period of 2 seconds;
™ it will cover the whole body with the exception of the face. Hands shall also be covered unless permanently attached gloves
are provided;
™ it is provided with arrangements to minimize or reduce free air in the legs of the suit;
™ following a jump from a height of not less than 4.5 m into the water there is no undue ingress of water into the suit.

An immersion suit which also complies with the requirements of life-jackets may be classified as a life-jacket.

An immersion suit which has buoyancy and is designed to be worn without a lifejacket shall be
fitted with a light and the whistle complying with the requirements for life-jackets.
If the immersion suit is to be worn in conjunction with a lifejacket, the lifejacket shall be worn over
the immersion suit. A person wearing such an immersion suit shall be able to don a lifejacket
without assistance.

In that case immersion suit shall permit the person wearing it:
™ to climb up and down a vertical ladder at least 5 m in length;
™ to perform normal duties associated with abandonment;
™ to jump from a height of not less than 4.5 m into the water without damaging or dislodging
the immersion suit, or being injured;
™ to swim a short distance through the water and board a survival craft.

An immersion suit made of material which has no inherent insulation shall be:
™ .1 marked with instructions that it must be worn in conjunction with warm clothing; 
™ .2 so constructed that, when worn in conjunction with warm clothing, and with a lifejacket
if the immersion suit is to be worn with a lifejacket, the immersion suit continues to
provide sufficient thermal protection, following one jump by the wearer into the water from
a height of 4.5 m, to ensure that when it is worn for a period of 1h in calm circulating
water at a temperature of 5°C, the wearer's body core temperature does not fall more
than 2°C.

An immersion suit made of material with inherent insulation, when worn either on its own or with a
lifejacket, if the immersion suit is to be worn in conjunction with a lifejacket, shall provide the
wearer with sufficient thermal insulation, following one jump into the water from a height of 4.5 m,
to ensure that the wearer's body core temperature does not fall more than 2°C after a period of 6h
immersion in calm circulating water at a temperature of between 0°C and 2°C.

A person in fresh water wearing either an immersion suit or an immersion suit with a lifejacket, shall be able to turn from a face-down to
a face-up position in not more than 5 seconds.
 

Inflatable lifejackets

Inflatable lifejackets
Inflatable lifejackets
A lifejacket which depends on inflation for buoyancy shall have not less than two separate
compartments and comply with the all requirements for ordinary lifejacket, and shall:
™ inflate automatically on immersion, be provided with a device to permit inflation by a single
manual motion and be capable of being inflated by mouth;
™ in the event of loss of buoyancy in any one compartment be capable of complying with the all
requirements for ordinary lifejacket; 
™ shall have buoyancy which is not reduced by more than 5% after 24h submersion in fresh
water after inflation by means of the automatic mechanism.
 

Wednesday 26 December 2012

Life-jackets:

Life-jackets:
Life-jackets:
An adult life-jacket shall be so constructed that: 
™ shall not sustain burning or continue melting after being totally enveloped in a fire for a
period of 2 seconds.
™ at least 75% of persons, who are completely unfamiliar with the lifejacket, can correctly don
it within a period of one min without assistance, guidance or prior demonstration;
™ after demonstration, all persons can correctly don it within a period of one minute without
assistance;
™ it is clearly capable of being worn in only one way or, as far as is practicable, cannot be
donned incorrectly;
™ it is comfortable to wear; 
™ it allows the wearer to jump from a height of at least 4.5 m into the water without injury and
without dislodging or damaging the lifejacket.

Self-activating smoke signals shall:

Self-activating smoke signals shall:
Self-activating smoke signals shall:
Self-activating smoke signals shall:
™ emit smoke of a highly visible color at a uniform rate for a period of at least 15 min when floating in
calm water;
™ not ignite explosively or emit any flame during the entire smoke emission time of the signal;
™ not be swamped in a seaway;
™ continue to emit smoke when fully submerged in water for a period of at least 10 s; 
™ be capable of withstanding the drop test into the water from the height at which it is stowed above the
waterline in the lightest seagoing condition or 30 m, whichever is the greater, without impairing either its
operating capability or that of its attached components.

 

Self-igniting lights shall:

Self-igniting lights shall:
Self-igniting lights shall:
™ be such that they cannot be extinguished by water;
™ be of white colour and capable of either burning continuously with a luminous intensity of not
less than 2 cd in all directions of the upper hemisphere or flashing (discharge flashing) at a rate
of not less than 50 flashes and not more than 70 flashes per min with at least the correspondin
effective luminous intensity;
™ be provided with a source of energy capable of meeting the requirement of previous paragraph
for a period of at least 2 hours; 
™ be capable of withstanding the drop test into the water from the height at which it is stowed
above the waterline in the lightest seagoing condition or 30 m, whichever is the greater, withou
impairing either its operating capability or that of its attached components.

LIFEBUOYS AND LIFE-JACKETS

LIFEBUOYS
LIFEBUOYS

Every lifebuoy shall:
™ have an outer diameter of not more than 800 mm and an inner diameter of not less than
400 mm;
™ be constructed of inherently buoyant material; it shall not depend upon rushes, cork
shavings or granulated cork, any other loose granulated material or any air compartment
which depends on inflation for buoyancy;
™ be capable of supporting not less than 14.5 kg of iron in fresh water for a period of 24
hours;
™ have a mass of not less than 2.5 kg;
™ not sustain burning or continue melting after being totally enveloped in a fire for a period
of 2 seconds;

™ be constructed to withstand a drop into the water from the height at which it is stowed above the waterline in the lightest
seagoing condition or 30 m, whichever is the greater, without impairing either its operating capability or that of its attached
components;
™ if it is intended to operate the quick release arrangement provided for the self-activated smoke signals and self-igniting lights,
have a mass sufficient to operate the quick release arrangement; 
™ be fitted with a grabline not less than 9.5 mm in diameter and not less than 4 times the outside diameter of the body of the
buoy in length. The grabline shall be secured at four equidistant points around the circumference of the buoy to form four
equal loops.

LIFE SAVING APPLIANCES

   LIFE SAVING APPLIANCES (LSA) CODE:
      

01.   Definitions and general requirements for life-saving appliances
02.   Lifebuoys and Life-jackets
03.   Immersion suits, Anti-exposure suits and Thermal protective aids
04.   General requirements for lifeboats 
05.   General requirements for life-rafts
06.   General requirements for rescue boats
07.   Rocket parachute flares
08.   Hand flares
09.   Buoyant smoke signals
10.   Launching and embarkation appliances
11.   Marine evacuation systems
12.   Line-throwing appliances
13.   General emergency alarm system
14.   Public address system
15.   IMO Symbols and Safety signs