MSC.1/Circ.1206
26 May 2006
MEASURES TO PREVENT ACCIDENTS WITH LIFEBOATS
The Maritime Safety Committee, at its eighty-first session 10 to 19 May 2006, recalled that at its seventy-fifth session (15 to 24 May 2002), it had considered the issue of the unacceptably high number of accidents with lifeboats in which crew were being injured, sometimes fatally, while participating in lifeboat drills and/or inspections, and noted that most accidents fell under the following categories:
.1 failure of on-load release mechanism;
.2 inadvertent operation of on-load release mechanism;
.3 inadequate maintenance of lifeboats, davits and launching equipment;
.4 communication failures;
.5 lack of familiarity with lifeboats, davits, equipment and associated controls;
.6 unsafe practices during lifeboat drills and inspections; and
.7 design faults other than on-load release mechanisms.
Member Governments are invited to give effect to the annexed Guidelines as soon as possible and to bring them to the attention of shipowners, ship operators, ship-vetting organizations, ship personnel, surveyors, manufacturers and all others concerned with the inspection and maintenance of lifeboats, liferafts, rescue boats and fast rescue boats and their launching appliances and on-load release gear.