Fire fighting equipment and life saving appliance servicing and certification, to SOLAS Chapter III and Chapter II-2.

Life saving appliances

• Inflatable liferafts — shore servicing at an approved station. Under SOLAS III/20.8 the interval must not exceed 12 months, extendable to 17 months where servicing at 12 is impracticable and the flag permits. Rafts approved for extended service intervals may run to 30 months between shore services, with an onboard inspection in the intervening year.
• Hydrostatic release units — this is the item that most often catches an otherwise compliant vessel. A valid raft service certificate does not cover an expired HRU. Port State Control checks the two dates independently, and an expired HRU is a deficiency in its own right.
• Lifeboats, rescue boats and davits — annual thorough examination and operational test, and at five-yearly intervals the thorough examination of on-load release gear, which includes an operational test at 1.1 times the total mass of the boat fully equipped and loaded when the release hook is overhauled. A visual check does not satisfy this; the hook has to be opened and examined internally.
• Davit wire falls — renewal at five-yearly intervals, or earlier on condition.
• Lifejackets, immersion suits and pyrotechnics — inspection, servicing and replacement, with expiry dates tracked against the vessel's certificate schedule.

Fire fighting equipment

• Portable and wheeled extinguishers, fixed CO₂, foam, water mist and dry powder systems, fire detection and alarm systems, hydrants, hoses and nozzles, international shore connections.
• Breathing apparatus — SCBA and EEBD — including cylinder hydrostatic testing, air quality testing and face-mask fit checks.
• Fireman's outfits, fire dampers and closing appliances.

Documentation

• Every attendance closes with a report and the certificates the vessel will be asked to produce. Where a defect is found that we cannot rectify during the call, it goes in the report with a recommendation rather than being left for the next inspector to find.
• Intervals summarised here are the common SOLAS positions and are given as general guidance. The requirement that applies to a particular vessel depends on its flag, its equipment and the approvals held by the servicing station — we confirm the applicable interval before attending.