Life Saving Equipment Regulations (C.R.C., c. 1436)

Short Title

1 These Regulations may be cited as the Life Saving Equipment Regulations.

Interpretation

• 2 (1) The definitions in this subsection apply in these Regulations.

  accredited service technician

  accredited service technician means a qualified person who is trained and accredited by the manufacturer of inflatable survival equipment to test, inspect, service and repair it. (technicien d’entretien agréé)

  Act

  Act means the Canada Shipping Act. (Loi)

  approved

  approved, in respect of survival craft or equipment, means that the prototype of the survival craft or equipment has been approved by the Board as having met the construction and performance standards set out or referred to in these Regulations. (homologué)

  approved boat

  approved boat means a boat that was recognized and approved as an approved boat under these Regulations as they read prior to April 28, 1996. (embarcation approuvée)

  certified

  certified means certified by the Board. (autorisé)

  Class II EPIRB

  Class II EPIRB means an emergency position indicating radiobeacon. (RLS de classe II)

  complement

  complement means

  • (a) in respect of a ship, the number of persons authorized to be carried under the inspection certificate issued for the ship; and

  • (b) in respect of a survival craft, the number of persons approved to be carried on the survival craft. (chargement en personnes)

  existing ship

  existing ship means a Canadian ship that is not a new ship. (navire existant)

  float-free device

  float-free device means a device that enables a survival craft to be released automatically from a sinking ship and to be ready for use. (dispositif à dégagement libre)

  free-fall launching

  free-fall launching means a method of launching a survival craft by which the craft, with its complement and equipment on board, is released and allowed to fall free into the water without any restraining equipment. (mise à l’eau en chute libre)

  Gulf of St. Lawrence

  Gulf of St. Lawrence means the area bounded on the east by the west coast of the Island of Newfoundland, on the north by a line joining Flowers Island and Point Amour, Newfoundland, and on the southeast by a line joining Port aux Basques, Newfoundland, and Sydney, Nova Scotia. (golfe du Saint-Laurent)

  inflatable survival equipment

  inflatable survival equipment means an inflatable life raft, an inflatable rescue platform or a marine evacuation system and includes

  • (a) a container for the inflatable life raft, the inflatable rescue platform or the marine evacuation system;

  • (b) a hydrostatic release unit; and

  • (c) a release hook for an inflatable davit-launched life raft. (équipement de sauvetage gonflable)

  inspector

  inspector means a steamship inspector appointed under section 301 of the Act. (inspecteur)

  launching device

  launching device means a device for launching a survival craft safely to the water from its stowed location. (dispositif de mise à l’eau)

  length

  length means

  • (a) in the case of a ship that is registered under the Act or is required by the Act to be registered, the length set out in the ship’s certificate of registry; or

  • (b) in the case of a ship that is not required by the Act to be registered, the horizontal distance between perpendiculars erected at the extreme ends of the outside of the hull. (longueur)

  major conversion

  major conversion, in respect of a ship, means a change that

  • (a) substantially alters the dimensions or carrying capacity of the ship; or

  • (b) alters the type of the ship. (transformation importante)

  marine evacuation system

  marine evacuation system means life saving equipment that consists of one or more inflatable life rafts, a slide or chute as a means of embarkation into the inflatable life rafts and, in the case of a system with more than one life raft, an inflatable rescue platform. (dispositif d’évacuation en mer)

  new ship

  new ship means a Canadian ship that is

  • (a) with respect to a Safety Convention ship,

    • (i) a ship the keel of which was laid on or after July 1, 1986,

    • (ii) a ship the keel of which was laid before July 1, 1986 and that underwent a major conversion on or after July 1, 1986, or

    • (iii) a ship that was registered in Canada on or after July 1, 1986; and

  • (b) with respect to a ship that is not a Safety Convention ship,

    • (i) a ship the keel of which was laid on or after April 28, 1996,

    • (ii) a ship that underwent a major conversion on or after April 28, 1996, or

    • (iii) a ship that was registered in Canada on or after April 28, 1996. (navire neuf)

  person

  person means a person who is one year of age or over. (personne)

  pyrotechnic distress signal

  pyrotechnic distress signal means a rocket parachute flare, a hand flare or a buoyant smoke signal. (signal de détresse pyrotechnique)

  recovery arrangements

  recovery arrangements, in respect of a ship, means equipment for

  • (a) hoisting a survival craft safely from the water; and

  • (b) where the survival craft serves the ship, returning the survival craft to its stowed location. (moyens de récupération)

  rescue boat

  rescue boat means a vessel designed to be used for rescuing persons in distress and marshalling survival craft. (canot de secours)

  rigid

  rigid, in respect of a life raft, an emergency boat or a rescue boat, means constructed of rigid materials or a combination of rigid materials and inflatable compartments and not relying wholly on inflatable compartments for buoyancy and form. (rigide)

  SART

  SART means a radar transponder designed for search and rescue purposes. (répondeur SAR)

  sea area A1

  sea area A1 has the meaning assigned in Chapter IV of the Safety Convention. (zone océanique A1)

  short international voyage

  short international voyage means an international voyage

  • (a) in the course of which a ship is not more than 200 nautical miles from a port or place in which the passengers and crew could be placed in safety; and

  • (b) that does not exceed 600 nautical miles in length between the last port of call in the country in which the voyage begins and the final port of destination. (voyage international court)

  survival craft

  survival craft means a lifeboat, a rescue boat, an emergency boat, a suitable boat, a buoyant apparatus, a life raft or an inflatable rescue platform. (bateau de sauvetage)

  tanker

  tanker means a cargo ship constructed or adapted for the carriage in bulk of liquid cargoes of a flammable, toxic or hazardous nature and includes a chemical tanker and a liquefied gas tanker. (navire-citerne)

  tow-boat

  tow-boat means a ship engaged in towing another ship or a floating object astern or alongside or in pushing another ship or a floating object ahead. (bâtiment remorqueur)

  VHF coverage area

  VHF coverage area means

  • (a) the Great Lakes;

  • (b) the Saguenay River downstream from Chicoutimi;

  • (c) the St. Lawrence River as far seaward as a straight line drawn

    • (i) from Cap-des-Rosiers to West Point, Anticosti Island, and

    • (ii) from Anticosti Island to the north shore of the St. Lawrence River along the meridian of longitude 63° west;

  • (d) Puget Sound, State of Washington, U.S.A.; or

  • (e) all waters that are within a coverage radius of a Canadian Coast Guard or U.S. Coast Guard radio station providing a continuous maritime mobile distress and safety service on frequency 156.8 MHz (channel 16). (zone VHF)

• (2) In these Regulations, the classes of home-trade voyages, inland voyages and minor waters voyages have the meanings assigned in sections 4 to 6 of the Home-Trade, Inland and Minor Waters Voyages Regulations.

• (3) A reference in these Regulations to an incorporated classification, standard, procedure or other specification shall be interpreted as excluding the following phrases that appear in that material:

  • (a) “acceptable to the Administration”;

  • (b) “to the satisfaction of the Administration”;

  • (c) “in the opinion of the Administration”;

  • (d) “acceptable to the approval authority”;

  • (e) “approved by the approval authority”; and

  • (f) “accepted by the commandant”.

Application

Where Regulations Do Not Apply

3 These Regulations do not apply in respect of

• (a) fishing vessels;

• (b) pleasure craft;

• (c) ships that are five tons gross tonnage or under and are certified to carry 12 passengers or fewer;

• (d) cargo ships that are 15 tons gross tonnage or under; or

• (e) ships capable of engaging in the drilling for, or the production, conservation or processing of, oil or gas.

Where Regulations Apply

• 4 (1) Parts I and III of these Regulations apply in respect of existing ships.

• (2) Parts II and III of these Regulations apply in respect of new ships.

General

Classes of Ships

5 For the purposes of these Regulations, ships are divided into the following classes:

• (a) Class I consists of ships that are over five tons gross tonnage and are

  • (i) Safety Convention ships that are certified to carry more than 12 passengers on long international voyages, or

  • (ii) ships that are not Safety Convention ships and that are certified to carry more than 12 passengers on foreign voyages or home-trade voyages, Class I;

• (b) Class II consists of ships that are over five tons gross tonnage and are

  • (i) Safety Convention ships that are certified to carry more than 12 passengers on short international voyages, or

  • (ii) ships that are not Safety Convention ships and that are certified to carry more than 12 passengers on home-trade voyages, Class II;

• (c) Class III consists of ships that are over five tons gross tonnage, are not Safety Convention ships and are certified to carry more than 12 passengers on home-trade voyages, Class III, or inland voyages, Class I;

• (d) Class IV consists of ships that are over five tons gross tonnage, are not Safety Convention ships and are certified to carry more than 12 passengers on inland voyages, Class II, or minor waters voyages, Class I;

• (e) Class V consists of ships that are over five tons gross tonnage, are not Safety Convention ships and are certified to carry more than 12 passengers on home-trade voyages, Class IV, or minor waters voyages, Class II;

• (f) Class VI consists of ships that are not over five tons gross tonnage and that are certified to carry more than 12 passengers;

• (g) Class VII consists of ships that are over five tons gross tonnage, are certified to carry passengers, are not self-propelled and are towed or pushed by a ship or operated by a cable;

• (h) Class VIII [reserved];

• (i) Class IX consists of ships that are over 15 tons gross tonnage and are

  • (i) Safety Convention ships that are not certified to carry passengers, or that are certified to carry 12 or fewer passengers, on international voyages, or

  • (ii) ships that are not Safety Convention ships and that are not certified to carry passengers, or that are certified to carry 12 or fewer passengers, on foreign voyages or home-trade voyages, Class I;

• (j) Class X consists of ships that are over 15 tons gross tonnage, are not Safety Convention ships and are not certified to carry passengers, or are certified to carry 12 or fewer passengers, on home-trade voyages, Class II, home-trade voyages, Class III, home-trade voyages, Class IV, inland voyages, Class I, inland voyages, Class II, minor waters voyages, Class I, or minor waters voyages, Class II; and

• (k) Class XI consists of ships that are over 15 tons gross tonnage, are not certified to carry passengers but carry a crew, are not self-propelled and are towed or pushed by a ship or operated by a cable.

Additional Equipment

5.1 A ship may carry life saving equipment that is in addition to that required by these Regulations, if the additional equipment

• (a) does not present a safety hazard;

• (b) is not detrimental to the seaworthiness of the ship; and

• (c) meets the requirements of these Regulations.

Marine Evacuation Systems

5.2 If a ship is required to carry life rafts under Part I or II, a marine evacuation system may be substituted for the life rafts and any associated launching devices if

• (a) the accommodation capacity of the life rafts of the marine evacuation system is at least equal to the accommodation capacity of the life rafts for which the marine evacuation system is substituted; and

• (b) the marine evacuation system meets the requirements of Regulation 6.2 of Chapter VI of the International Life-saving Appliance Code published by the International Maritime Organization, as amended from time to time, and is approved as having met those requirements.