The US Office of Commercial Vessel Compliance has published a new document entitled “Guidance on Implementation of New Standards for Fire Protection, Detection, and Extinguishing Equipment.”
This guidance covers changes to the regulatory requirements for fire protection, detection, and extinguishing equipment used on inspected and uninspected vessels, Outer Continental Shelf facilities, deepwater ports and mobile offshore drilling units.
The policy documentation points to changes after the US Coast Guard’s 2016 “Harmonization of Standards for Fire Protection, Detection, and Extinguishing Equipment” rulemaking.
This change affects all inspected and uninspected vessels. The most immediate change relates to portable and semi-portable fire extinguishers. Additionally, the USCG changed the approval standards for fire detection and alarm systems and added, or changed other firefighting equipment and system standards including spanner wrenches for certain small passenger vessels.
The 2016 rule does not affect fixed fire extinguishing systems including carbon dioxide. All mention of extinguishers in this policy document refers only to portable or semi-portable fire extinguishing equipment. This policy is not applicable to foreign vessels subject to SOLAS.
Read the policy document in full: USCG-Guidance-on-Implementation-of-New-Standards-for-Fire-Protection-Detection-and-Extinguishing-Equipment-2018_04