Every ship over 500 tons carries a Safety Management System. On the best-run vessels it shapes how the crew actually works. On too many others it is a binder that comes off the shelf when an auditor arrives. The gap between those two states is where accidents and detentions live.
A fire in a ship’s engine room has to be fought by a system that was chosen years earlier, on a drawing board. Pick the wrong extinguishing system for the space, and the mistake is built into the vessel. Here is how CO2, water mist, and foam are matched to the hazard.
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.
PFOS foam is banned from ships from 2026, and the EU rule bites harder still. Why swapping AFFF for fluorine-free foam is not a simple refill.
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.
The IMO Fire Safety Systems Code is the detailed technical rulebook that turns SOLAS Chapter II-2 fire protection obligations into specific performance, installation, testing, and maintenance requirements that surveyors, class societies, and flag states can verify. For shipowners, understanding what the Code requires in practice, and where compliance most commonly breaks down, is essential for survey readiness, PSC performance, and crew safety.
