Circular Letter MSC/Circ.1035

GUIDELINES FOR THE USE AND INSTALLATION OF DETECTORS EQUIVALENT TO SMOKE DETECTORS

(adopted on 21 May 2002)

1. The Maritime Safety Committee, at its seventy-fifth session (15 to 24 May 2002), approved Guidelines for the use and in­stallation of detectors equivalent to smoke detectors, as required by SOLAS regulation II-2/7, set out in Annex.

2. Member Governments are invited to apply the annexed Guidelines when approving detectors equivalent to smoke detec­tors.

Annex.

GUIDELINES FOR THE USE AND INSTALLATION OF DETECTORS EQUIVALENT TO SMOKE DETECTORS

General

1. Detectors fitted as equivalent to smoke detectors required by SOLAS regulation II-2/7* should have a reliability and sensitiv­ity performance at least comparable to smoke detectors required by SOLAS.

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* Refer to SOLAS regulation II-2/13 for ships constructed before 1 July 2002.

2. The detector, system and its components should be designed, installed and tested* in accordance with the same standards used for smoke detectors which are in keeping with the Organiza­tion's requirements**.

Principal requirements

3. The requirements of chapter 9 of the Fire Safety Systems (FSS) Code, except as modified by these Guidelines, should ap­ply.

4. Where carbon monoxide detectors are used, the alarm threshold should be set at 40 ppm with the ability of the detec­tor to be adjusted to high and low sensitivity settings in order to obtain the optimum performance after considering the fire haz­ard and the likely source and to minimise false alarms.

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