Ship Fire Safety Design Expert Article

This article, written by marine safety expert, Marjorie Murtagh Cooke, deals specifically with international shipboard fire protection requirements for large passenger ships.

Ship Fire Safety Design

Article Introduction - Complete article available for download in the Details section of this page

Thousands of passenger ships operate worldwide. They are built and operated to comply with applicable fire safety standards and as such, they carry certificates issued by national inspectors verifying compliance. But odes a certificate of compliance mean that a passenger ship is firesafe? It should, but it will depend on the knowledge and experience of a critical group of people associated with creating a ship’s fire safety environment.

Shipboard fire protection rules were developed to create a safety system that relies on the fire safety knowledge of the designer, builder, owner, operator, crew, national administration and the inspectors responsible for enforcing the requirements. Each must understand the safety system for it to be successful. If any one of them does not properly fulfill his/her role, the ship can experience accidents, sometimes with serious or fatal results.

To evaluate a ship’s fire safety, it is necessary to know when and where it was built; what standards were in effect at that time; whether the ship’s design, owner, flag or class society has change during its lifetime; how well-versed the inspectors are in marine fire safety; and how well-trained the crew is in responding to a shipboard fire emergency.

Complete article available for download in the Details section of this page

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