Every SOLAS vessel carries two categories of survival equipment that are surveyed and serviced on a fixed cycle: life-saving appliances (LSA) and fire-fighting appliances (FFA). Both must be maintained by competent, approved service stations, and both are scrutinised during port-state control inspections. For vessels calling at Colombo and Sri Lanka’s other commercial ports on the Indian Ocean, keeping this equipment in date is central to trading without detention.
What life-saving appliance servicing covers
LSA servicing spans the equipment a crew relies on to abandon ship and survive: lifeboats and rescue boats, davits and launching appliances, liferafts, lifebuoys and lifejackets, immersion and anti-exposure suits, and pyrotechnics. Servicing includes annual inspection, five-yearly load testing of launching appliances and boats, and re-certification of inflatable equipment. ARCSHIP’s life-saving appliance servicing is delivered to SOLAS and the LSA Code.
Load testing and davits
Launching appliances, winches and on-load release gear must be examined and tested at defined intervals. Missing a davit load test is a common detainable deficiency, and it cannot be resolved without a competent service attendance.
What fire-fighting appliance servicing covers
FFA servicing keeps the vessel’s fixed and portable firefighting systems ready to operate: fixed CO₂ and foam systems, water-mist and sprinkler systems, fixed detection and alarm systems, portable and wheeled extinguishers, firefighter’s outfits and breathing apparatus. Work includes refilling and hydrostatic testing of extinguishers and cylinders, pressure testing of fire mains and hoses, and functional testing of detection. See fire-fighting appliance servicing for the full scope.
An out-of-date extinguisher or an untested breathing-apparatus cylinder is enough to hold a vessel at berth.
A single port-call attendance
Because LSA and FFA share the same regulatory rhythm, it is efficient to service both in one attendance. A typical Sri Lankan port-call inspection at Colombo, Galle, Hambantota or Trincomalee covers:
- Annual inspection and function testing of LSA and FFA equipment
- Refilling, hydrotesting and re-certification of extinguishers and BA cylinders
- Load testing of davits, winches and survival craft where due
- Servicing and re-packing of inflatable liferafts and lifejackets
- Issue of test certificates and a consolidated service report
Keeping equipment in date
The most reliable way to avoid a deficiency is to map every LSA and FFA due-date against the vessel’s trading pattern and to schedule the attendance into a planned call at a Sri Lankan port. That turns safety servicing from a reactive scramble into a routine, documented event, timed to fit a transhipment call at Colombo or a bunkering stop at Hambantota.