Constructional fire safety measures

(1) Subject to the provisions of subregulations (2) and (3), the fire safety requirements of bulkheads, decks, doors and stairways shall, as far as practicable and reasonable in the opinion of the Administration, comply with the applicable requirements of the 1974 SOLAS Convention for such bulkheads, doors and stairways. (2) The bulkheads and decks separating the machinery spaces of category A from control stations, corridors, accommodation spaces, stairways, service spaces and cargo spaces shall be so constructed as to be capable of preventing the spread of fire to the unexposed side. (3) Interior stairways below the weather deck shall be of steel or other material having acceptable fire resisting properties. (4) Insulation materials in accommodation spaces, service spaces (except domestic refrigeration compartments), control stations and machinery spaces shall be non-combustible. Vapour barriers and adhesive used in conjunction with insulation, as well as insulation of pipes fittings, for cold service systems, need not be of non-combustible materials, but they shall be kept to the minimum quantity practicable and their exposed surfaces shall have qualities or resistance to the propagation of flame to the satisfaction of the Administration. (5) All exposed surfaces in corridors and stairway enclosures and surfaces including decks in concealed or inaccessible spaces Merchant Ships (Registration) 180 shall have low flame-spread characteristics. Exposed surfaces of ceilings in accommodation spaces, service spaces and control stations shall have low flame-spread characteristics. (6) Paints, varnishes and other finishes used on exposed interior surfaces shall not offer an undue fire hazard in the judgement of the Administration and shall not be capable of producing excessive quantities of smoke. (7) Primary deck coverings, where applied within shall be of approved materials which will not readily ignite or give rise to toxic or explosive hazards at elevated temperature. In existing ships, the Administration may, in lieu of applying the requirements fully, apply such requirements only to deck coverings within accommodation spaces on decks forming the crown of machinery spaces and cargo spaces. (8) Stairways and ladders shall be so arranged as to provide, from accommodation spaces, service spaces, control stations, machinery spaces and other spaces in which the crew is normally employed, ready means of escape to the open deck and thence to the survival craft. (9) Two means of escape shall be provided from every machinery space of category A which shall be as widely separated as possible. Vertical escapes shall be by means of steel ladders or other means acceptable to the Administration as suitable alternatives. Where the size of such machinery space makes it impracticable, one of these means of escape may be dispensed with provided that the means available is to the satisfaction of the Administration. (10) From machinery spaces other than those of category A, escape routes shall be provided to the satisfaction of the Administration having regard to the nature and location of the space and whether persons are normally employed in the space. Merchant Ships (Registration) 181 (11) No dead-end corridors having length of more than 7m shall be accepted. A dead-end corridor is a corridor or part of a corridor from which there is only one escape route. (12) The width and continuity of the means of escape shall be to the satisfaction of the Administration. (13) The following provisions shall apply to machinery spaces of category A and, where the Administration considers it desirable, to the other machinery spaces– (a) means shall be provided for opening and closure of skylights, openings and closure of windows in machinery space boundaries, closure of opening in funnels which normally allow exhaust ventilation, and closure of ventilator dampers; (b) means shall be provided for permitting the release of smoke; (c) means shall be provided for stopping forced and induced draught fans, fuel oil transfer pumps, fuel oil unit pump sand similar fuel pumps; (d) the means required in paragraphs (a), (b) and (c) shall be located outside the space concerned where they will not be cut off in the event of fire in the space they serve; (e) the number of skylights, doors, ventilators for natural ventilation, openings in funnels to permit exhaust ventilation and other openings to machinery spaces shall be reduced to a minimum consistent with the needs of ventilation and the proper and safe working of the ship; Merchant Ships (Registration) 182 (f) skylights shall not contain glass panels. However, skylights containing wire reinforced glass or toughened safety glass panels may be permitted provided that they are fitted with external shutters of steel or other equivalent material permanently attached. Suitable control arrangements shall be made to permit the release of smoke from the space to be protected in the event of fire; (g) windows shall not be fitted in machinery space boundaries. This does not preclude the use of glass in control rooms within the machinery (h) doors fitted in machinery space boundaries shall as far as practicable be equivalent in resisting fire to the divisions forming such boundaries. Where such doors are not weathertight or watertight doors, they shall be self-closing. (14) Ventilation systems of each of the following groups of spaces shall be entirely separated from each other– (a) (b) galleys; (c) cargo spaces; and (d) accommodation spaces and control station. The arrangement of each ventilation system shall be such that fire in one space shall not readily spread to the other spaces. (15) Power ventilation of accommodation spaces, service spaces, control stations and machinery spaces shall be capable of being stopped from an easily accessible position located Merchant Ships (Registration) 183 outside the space being served. This position shall not be readily cut off in the event of a fire in the space served. The means provided for stopping the power ventilation of machinery spaces shall be entirely separated from the means provided for stopping ventilation of other spaces. (16) The main inlets and outlets of all ventilation systems shall be capable of being closed from outside the spaces being ventilated. (17) A fixed fire detection and fire alarm system of an approved type shall be installed in periodically unattended tanks,