Emergency & Evacuation

How the evacuation arrangement fits together

The 2009 Code for Mobile Offshore Drilling Units (the MODU Code, IMO resolution A.1023(26)) sets the arrangement in chapter 10. For the appliances themselves it points to SOLAS chapter III and the International Life-Saving Appliance Code (LSA Code). Lifeboats are the primary means of escape. They sit in widely separated locations, sized so that losing every boat at one location still leaves a seat for everyone on board. Liferafts add capacity, a rescue boat recovers people from the water, and each person has a lifejacket and usually an immersion suit. US rules for MODUs in 46 CFR 108.525 state the same separation principle.

Treat the group as one system when you replace part of it. A change in seat count, boat mass or stowage height ripples into davits, muster areas and the station bill.

Comparing the sub-Categories

The craft carry the engineering risk. The personal items carry the volume, and their value depends on dates printed on every unit.

Approvals follow the flag of your unit

Approval belongs to a make and model, and the flag of the unit you fit it to decides which approvals it accepts. EU flags require the wheel mark under the Marine Equipment Directive (MED, Directive 2014/90/EU). US-flagged units need US Coast Guard approval under 46 CFR subchapter Q. Many other flags accept either, and some issue their own.

On a used item, check three things. The nameplate model matches the certificate. The certificate was valid on the date of manufacture. Any later modification, such as a replaced hook or engine, is covered by the maker or the flag.

Servicing rules that set the value

IMO resolution MSC.402(96), in force since 1 January 2020, governs lifeboats, rescue boats, fast rescue boats, their launching appliances and their release gear. The maker or a service provider authorised by the flag Administration for that make and type carries out the annual thorough examination and the five-yearly overhaul and overload tests, using personnel certified for that equipment. The operator of the unit may not do the five-yearly work itself. Reports from anyone else do not count.

SOLAS chapter III regulation 20 sets the rest. Inflatable liferafts, inflatable lifejackets and inflated rescue boats go to an approved station at intervals not over 12 months. Wire falls are turned end for end at intervals not over 30 months and renewed when worn or at five years, whichever comes first.

What expires and must not be reused

Some items have a fixed life that no inspection extends. Replace these, whatever the condition of the craft they came with:

• Rocket parachute flares, hand flares and buoyant smoke signals
• Liferaft and lifeboat food rations and drinking water
• Disposable hydrostatic release units, at the date marked on them
• Lifejacket light batteries, lifebuoy self-igniting lights and smoke signals
• Inflation cylinders and auto-inflation cartridges past their marked date
• Wire falls older than five years
• On-load release hooks that do not meet the LSA Code as amended by MSC.320(89)

Price these replacements into any comparison between a used set and a new one.

Integration questions across the group

• Seats against persons on board, including the extra people a reactivation or a campaign brings
• Boat mass against davit and winch ratings when you change boat make or model
• Free-fall certified height against the stowage height above the lightest seagoing waterline
• Liferaft drop height, since a raft stowed above 18 m (59 ft) needs a type tested from at least that height
• Shore power for boat battery charging and winch motors at each station
• Class approval of the combined boat, davit and hook, not each part alone

Sourcing used and surplus lifesaving appliances

Unused surplus from cancelled newbuilds and stacked units is the strongest option, provided the model is still supported and a service provider will take it on. A used craft with an unbroken file of authorised service reports comes next. A craft with gaps in that file usually needs the full five-yearly scope before a surveyor will accept it. Naventr can arrange an inspection by an authorised service provider on request and put your questions about the service file to the Seller.