CIRCULAR
LETTER
MSC/Circ.1050
SHIPBOARD PLANS FOR FIRE PROTECTION APPLIANCES, LIFE-SAVING APPLIANCES AND
MEANS OF ESCAPE.
(adopted
on 21 May 2002)
1.
The Maritime Safety Committee at its seventy-fifth session (15 to 24 May 2002)
noted that SOLAS regulation II-2/15 (which will enter into force on 1 July
2002) requires that fire control plans be permanently exhibited for the
guidance of the ship's officers and that a duplicate set of fire control plans
or a booklet containing such plans be permanently stored in an enclosure
outside the deckhouse for the assistance of shoreside fire-fighting personnel.
2.
The Committee further noted that resolution A.654(16) on Graphical Symbols for
Fire Control Plans, recognizing that the use of universally understood symbols
should greatly increase the usefulness of fire control plans, both for the crew
of the ship and for shorebased fire brigades, urged Member Governments to bring
the symbols annexed to that resolution to the attention of ships' personnel and
shorebased fire-fighting personnel with a view to encouraging their adoption
for use on board all ships.
3.
The Committee, having noted that ISO, in close co-operation with IMO, had
developed its standard ISO 17631:2002 -Ships and Marine Technology - Shipboard
Plans for Fire Protection, Life-Saving Appliances and Means of Escape,
providing symbols relating to fire control plans and life-saving appliances and
arrangements which generally conform to the corresponding symbols set out in
the Annex to resolution A.654(16), decided that the ISO standard 17631 should
be brought to the attention of Member Governments.
4.
It is the intention of the Committee to prepare a revision of resolution
A.654(16), which either will make reference to, or incorporate the graphical
symbols contained therein, the abovementioned ISO standard, without any
changes, for adoption by the Assembly at its twenty-third session in 2003.
5.
Member Governments are invited to bring standard ISO 17631:2002 to the
attention of shipbuilders, ship owners, ship operators, ship masters,
shorebased fire-fighting personnel and other parties concerned with the
preparation or use of shipboard fire control plans, so that they may use it, on
a voluntary basis, for the preparation or use of shipboard fire control plans
in compliance with SOLAS regulation II-2/15, pending the adoption of the
revised