PSC deficiency code 11118: Lifejackets incl.provision and disposition
Area 11 Life-saving appliances
Code 11118 covers lifejackets and where they're kept: the number on board, the extra ones at watch stations and remote survival craft positions, their condition and fittings, and whether people can reach and don them quickly. Inspectors check them in cabins, on the bridge, in the engine control room and during the abandon ship drill. The doubt is whether every person would end up in the water with a working lifejacket.
What the inspector looks at
A few cabins are usually opened at random, then the watch stations.
- one lifejacket for every person on board, compared with the crew list and supernumeraries
- lifejackets for persons on watch on the bridge, in the engine control room and at other manned watch stations
- lifejackets at remotely located survival craft stations, where the ship has them
- approved type, with the approval marking legible
- light working and its battery in date, whistle on a cord, retro-reflective tape intact
- covers, straps, buckles and buoyancy material in good condition
- donning instructions posted, positions marked, and service records for inflatable lifejackets
Common findings
- Lifejacket lights not working, batteries expired
- Whistle missing from several lifejackets
- Retro-reflective tape missing or peeling
- No lifejackets in engine control room for persons on watch
- Lifejackets locked in store, not readily accessible
- Buoyancy material damaged, straps torn
- Donning instructions not posted
- Inflatable lifejackets not serviced within 12 months
The rule behind it
SOLAS chapter III, regulation 7 requires a lifejacket for every person on board, extra lifejackets for persons on watch and for remotely located survival craft stations, and stowage where they're readily accessible with their positions plainly marked. Passenger ships also carry lifejackets for children and infants, plus spares under regulation 22. Regulation 20 requires inflatable lifejackets to be serviced at intervals not exceeding 12 months. The LSA Code, chapter II, covers the lifejacket, its light and its whistle. Regulation 19 has the crew check that lifejackets are correctly donned during abandon ship drills.
Action codes you are likely to see
Missing whistles, tape or instructions are often put right on board and marked 10. Expired light batteries usually get 17 if no spares are on board, and lifejackets missing from watch stations are 10 or 17 depending on whether spares can be moved there. The IMO list of detainable deficiencies includes absence, insufficient capacity or serious deterioration of personal life-saving appliances, so too few lifejackets for the people on board, or many that are unusable, may be treated as a ground for detention (30). See action taken codes.
How to close it
Count lifejackets against persons on board and watch stations, move spares into place and order any shortfall through the agent. Replace expired lights or batteries, fit whistles and renew tape. Take lifejackets out of locked stores. Send inflatable lifejackets to an approved service station. Keep the delivery note, batch numbers, photos and an updated LSA inventory with the Form B. Related: lifebuoys, immersion suits and stowage of liferafts.