Life-Saving Appliances A lifejacket that floats is not a compliant lifejacket. Inspectors write findings against lights, whistles, sizing, servicing records, and whether the crew can actually put one on in time. The buoyancy is almost never the problem. By MarineCraft Journal · 27 August 2026 · 9 mins read 1 minthe time in which a … Read more
Life-Saving Appliances Buying survival equipment is the easy part. Keeping it certified for the rest of its working life depends on picking a servicing provider whose authorisation actually covers your equipment, and that is where fleets quietly acquire a compliance problem they only discover at inspection. By MarineCraft Journal · 20 August 2026 · 9 … Read more
A liferaft can sit in its canister for years and look perfect from the outside while quietly going out of certification. The rules that keep it valid are strict, specific, and easy to trip over, and an inspector checks two separate dates that operators routinely assume are one.
Immersion suits are built to keep a person alive in freezing water. In the warm seas of Southeast Asia, the rules allow some ships to leave them off. That single exemption creates more inspection confusion, and more risk, than almost any other item in the life-saving locker.
The 2019 SOLAS deadline forced a fleet-wide swap of lifeboat on-load release hooks. Years on, they still trigger detentions. What inspectors check, and why.
Modern SOLAS-compliant lifeboats are engineered systems, not simply evacuation boats. Understanding their types, launching mechanisms, and regulatory requirements is essential for shipowners, operators, and safety management professionals. Improper testing, misaligned interlocks, and poor crew familiarity with release procedures are consistently among the most common causes of life-saving appliance deficiencies in PSC inspections.
