IMO’s Maritime Safety Committee (MSC) adopted a raft of new international standards for passenger ship when it met in Istanbul, Turkey, for from 29 November to 8 December 2006. Other important issues on the MSC agenda included the further development of goal-based standards and discussion of security and facilitation issues related to the carriage of containers by ships. The package of amendments to SOLAS adopted at the session were the result of a comprehensive review of passenger ship safety initiated in 2000 with the aim of assessing whether the current regulations were adequate, in particular for the large passenger ships now being built. The amendments include new concepts such as the incorporation of criteria for the casualty threshold (the amount of damage a ship is able to withstand, according to the design basis, and still safely return to port) into SOLAS chapters II-1 and II-2. The amendments also provide regulatory flexibility so that ship designers can meet any safety challenges the future may bring.
The amendments which are expected to enter force in 2010 include: alternative designs and arrangements; safe areas and the essential systems to be maintained while a ship proceeds to port after a casualty, which will require redundancy of propulsion and other essential systems; on-board safety centres, from where safety systems can be controlled, operated and monitored; fixed fire detection and alarm systems, including requirements for fire detectors and manually operated call points to be capable of being remotely and individually identified; fire prevention, including amendments aimed at enhancing the fire safety of atriums, the means of escape in case of fire and ventilation systems; and time for orderly evacuation and abandonment, including requirements for the essential systems that must remain operational in case any one main vertical zone is unserviceable due to fire.