SOLAS amendments on lifeboat safety

SOLAS amendments on lifeboat safety 
enter into force
Amendments to SOLAS aimed at preventing
accidents during lifeboat launching entered
into force on 1 January 2013.
The amendments, adopted in May
2011, add a new paragraph 5 to SOLAS
regulation III/1, to require lifeboat on-load
release mechanisms not complying with
new International Life-Saving Appliances
(LSA) Code requirements to be replaced, no
later than the first scheduled dry-docking of
the ship after 1 July 2014 but, in any case,
not later than 1 July 2019.
The SOLAS amendment is intended to
establish new, stricter, safety standards for
lifeboat release and retrieval systems, and
will require the assessment and possible
replacement of a large number of lifeboat
release hooks.
Information submitted by flag States on
their assessments of existing lifeboat hooks
is available on the Global Integrated Shipping
Information System (GISIS), on the IMO website