Lifeboats – a safety issue

The problem is that commercial pressures in the maritime industry all too frequently result in a reduction in maintenance and training which, in the case of lifesaving equipment, can be fatal. Cruise ships with tight schedules, ferries with small crews and high capacity evacuations systems, cargo ships and tankers with minimum manning and ever tighter port state control have concentrated the minds of the IMO and equipment manufacturers to improve the situation. The resulting amendments to SOLAS chapter III are largely the result of close co-operation between IMO and the International Lifesaving Appliance Manufacturers? Association (ILAMA).

Good regulations help

Ove Roessland, managing director of Norwegian-based lifeboat and davit specialist Schat-Harding, and chairman of ILAMA, said that all members of the association want to make sure their equipment saves lives. “That should be easy, as all our members make good life saving appliances, ” he says. “But, the problem is, how can we influence the way our equipment is maintained and used once it is in service? That can only be achieved through good

regulation.”

Roessland went on to say: “The priority is to cut down the accidents which occur because critical parts of life saving appliances, such as the life boat hooks, are either not serviced or are serviced by untrained and unqualified people. ILAMA has worked with IMO for some time to develop a clear and safe international regime for the inspection and maintenance of life saving appliances.”

The amendments are to SOLAS chapter III and Regulations 19 and 20 of SOLAS, supplemented by the guidelines for periodic servicing and maintenance of lifeboats, launching appliances and on-load release gear published as MSC Circular 1093 in June this year.

The new rules call for regular tests and inspections of lifeboats, hooks and davits, and specify what these tests should be and who should do them. While weekly and monthly work can be carried out by on board personnel, the annual and five-yearly tests and service have to be done by personnel authorised by the manufacturer. This puts a lot more responsibility on the manufacturer to train and maintain a global network of engineers and to ensure that there is a proper capability to meet the needs of ship operators.

ILAMA?s members believe this new regulatory framework will put an end to the days when lifeboats and davits are either not maintained at all, or are maintained by untrained personnel.

Looking to the future, Roessland says: “We want to help IMO to harmonise the regulations on life-saving appliances. At present implementation of the SOLAS convention and its guidelines is hampered by the fact that revisions to the regulations have not always taken full account of what was already there. ILAMA?s technical committee has worked on the details of the various regulations to identify discrepancies and proposed sensible changes which will make the rules clearer and more coherent, and therefore simpler to implement and enforce.”

Innovative solutions

In order to further reduce the possibility of lifeboat accidents, suppliers of marine lifesaving equipment are continually striving to design and develop foolproof systems to avoid gear failure and confusion among crew when operating the equipment. Some novel solutions have been brought onto the market and these include a couple developed by the Scottish company of Survival Craft Inspectorate (SCI), a leading authority on the provision of preventative maintenance programs for lifeboats and davit systems.

One of their products, called the ?safelaunch lifeboat release hook?, is a quick release on-load hook designed to allow the safe launch of conventional davit launched lifeboats. The system is designed to be compatible with all existing types of conventional lifeboats and can be installed into new lifeboats or retrofitted as an upgrade.

SCI?s key requirement was to eliminate the risk of accidental release and to keep the need for maintenance to a minimum. This was achieved by having a 6 tonne safe working load, incorporating a hydrostatic interlock release and using stainless steel to reduce maintenance requirements and ensure a long and trouble free life. Other modifications involved replacing the usual flat-to-flat contact area of the release pin to the hook finger by a curve-to-curve contact giving greater surface area contact even when the safety pin is not optimally aligned. This reduced the risk of potential accidental release. The hook is also fitted with a green safety pin which is inserted into the hooks when the lifeboat has been lifted clear of the water. When the safety pin is in place it is no longer possible to accidentally release the hooks.

In addition, the release hook is provided with a colour coded indicator that provides a clear visual status of the release cam enabling crew members and maintenance personnel to verify that the hooks are secure and in a safe condition before anyone enters the boat. The high visibility indicator is linked to the main release mechanism and moves from green to red to provide an unambiguous signal when the boat is ready to be launched and minimises the risks associated with boarding lifeboats whose release mechanisms may have become dangerous with time.

The indicator and release cam mechanism is protected by a transparent cover that provides extra security against physical damage and corrosion thereby eliminating any need for painting and risks to the system?s functionality that might subsequently arise.

Improvement

Another issue, which has received little attention until now, is the need for improvement in the lubrication of wire ropes. This is a very critical element as these fall wires suspend the entire weight of a fully loaded lifeboat. Traditionally, the wire ropes have been lubricated manually with brushes, rags and gloves which, as well as being time consuming, messy and costly, is very ineffectual since the lubricant forms a surface film allowing water to penetrate the inner core of the wire rope and causing it to rust from the inside out. This can lead to a dangerous condition where, what appears to be a safe and lubricated rope, is being destroyed internally by corrosion and friction.

To solve this problem, SCI has developed the wire rope lubricator which forces lubricant under high pressure into the wire ropes inner core while, at the same time, rust, water, foreign objects and old lubricants are forced out. This system has, in some cases, extended the useful life of wire ropes by up to 300%. This wire rope lubricator is portable and virtually self-contained apart form the need for an external air supply.

For certain types of ships such as cargo vessels, tankers and offshore oil and gas platforms, the free-fall lifeboat gets around some of the problems associated with the traditional davit launched lifeboats. Since introducing the free-fall lifeboat some 35 years ago, Schat-Harding has supplied more than 2,000 which, in addition to offering a fast and safe way of escaping, can cope with large heeling and trim angles. The company also claims their designs can be launched from heights up to 35 metres.

Other manufacturers such as SCI, Hatecke in Germany, Norsafe in Norway and PESBO in Spain, also have developed free-fall lifeboat designs some of which incorporate diesel engines with twin electric start, double skinned hull and canopy, use of fire retardant GRP and integral buoyancy tanks that ensure a boat is self-righting even in damaged condition. Some suppliers also offer fire-protected versions complete with external water spray and internal compressed air supply.