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Liferafts and personal LSALesson 8 of 8

EPIRB and SART: annual tests and shore-based maintenance

You will know what the radio surveyor checks on the EPIRB and SART each year, what happens at shore-based maintenance, and how to keep the beacon's identity right.

13 minutes · For signed-up learners, free · Rules checked 20 October 2026

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When a ship sinks, the emergency position-indicating radio beacon (EPIRB) floats free of its bracket, switches itself on and sends a 406 MHz distress message to the Cospas-Sarsat satellites with the ship’s identity and, on modern beacons, a satellite position. A search and rescue transponder (SART) then guides rescuers to the survivors: a radar SART paints a line of dots on the searching ship’s radar, an AIS-SART shows up on its automatic identification system (AIS) display.

None of that helps if the beacon’s identity code belongs to the ship’s previous owner, the battery has run out, or the hydrostatic release has expired. Those are exactly the things the radio surveyor checks at the annual test, and the reason a beacon goes ashore at least every five years for a full maintenance in a radio-screened room. This lesson takes you through both, and through the SART checks that go with them.

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The rest of this lesson, the interactive Annual radio survey: the EPIRB and the SARTs and the quiz are open to signed-up learners. It's free, takes a minute, and opens every lesson in all 14 courses.

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In this lesson

  • Try it: Annual radio survey: the EPIRB and the SARTs
  • In plain words
  • In detail
  • What the rules say
  • Flag and class notes
  • Key numbers
  • What inspectors find
  • Questions people ask
  • Quiz: 6 questions

Sources

  1. 1 IMO Resolution MSC.152(78), Amendments to SOLAS (adopted 20 May 2004, in force 1 July 2006), new SOLAS regulation IV/15.9 (Satellite EPIRBs). https://wwwcdn.imo.org/localresources/en/KnowledgeCentre/IndexofIMOResolutions/MSCResolutions/MSC.152(78).pdf
  2. 2 IMO MSC.1/Circ.1040/Rev.2, Guidelines on annual testing of emergency position-indicating radio beacons (EPIRBs) (18 October 2021), Annex paragraphs 1 to 4. https://wwwcdn.imo.org/localresources/en/OurWork/Safety/Documents/Documents%20relevant%20to%20GMDSS/MSC.1-Circ.1040-Rev.2.pdf
  3. 3 IMO MSC.1/Circ.1039/Rev.1, Guidelines for shore-based maintenance of emergency position-indicating radio beacons (EPIRBs) (18 October 2021), Annex sections 2 to 13. https://wwwcdn.imo.org/localresources/en/OurWork/Safety/Documents/Documents%20relevant%20to%20GMDSS/MSC.1-Circ.1039-Rev.1.pdf
  4. 4 IMO Resolution A.1186(33), Survey Guidelines under the HSSC, 2023, Annex items (RI) 4.1.2.16 and 4.1.2.18. https://wwwcdn.imo.org/localresources/en/KnowledgeCentre/IndexofIMOResolutions/AssemblyDocuments/A.1186(33).pdf
  5. 5 IMO Resolution MSC.471(101), Performance standards for float-free emergency position-indicating radio beacons (EPIRBs) operating on 406 MHz (adopted 14 June 2019), operative paragraph 2 and Annex paragraphs 2.2 to 2.6. https://wwwcdn.imo.org/localresources/en/KnowledgeCentre/IndexofIMOResolutions/MSCResolutions/MSC.471(101).pdf
  6. 6 IMO Resolution MSC.256(84), Amendments to SOLAS (adopted 16 May 2008, in force 1 January 2010), new regulations III/6.2.2 and III/26.2.5 and amended IV/7.1.3. https://wwwcdn.imo.org/localresources/en/KnowledgeCentre/IndexofIMOResolutions/MSCResolutions/MSC.256(84).pdf
  7. 7 IMO Resolution A.802(19), Performance standards for survival craft radar transponders for use in search and rescue operations (adopted 23 November 1995), paragraphs 2.2, 2.4, 2.6 and 4. https://wwwcdn.imo.org/localresources/en/KnowledgeCentre/IndexofIMOResolutions/AssemblyDocuments/A.802(19).pdf
  8. 8 IMO Resolution MSC.246(83), Performance standards for survival craft AIS search and rescue transmitters (AIS-SART) (adopted 8 October 2007), paragraphs 2.2 and 2.4. https://wwwcdn.imo.org/localresources/en/KnowledgeCentre/IndexofIMOResolutions/MSCResolutions/MSC.246(83).pdf
  9. 9 Indian Register of Shipping, PSC Annual Report 2024, radio and documentation deficiencies. https://www.irclass.org/media/7954/psc-annual-report-2024.pdf
  10. 10 Australian Maritime Safety Authority, Safety Alert 02/2021, Correct use of hydrostatic release units (EPIRB HRUs), as enclosed in Indian Register of Shipping Technical Circular 060/2021. https://www.irclass.org/media/5801/technical-circular-no60.pdf

Free awareness training. Al Safwan Marine is not an approved training provider, so no certificate is given, and these courses are not a qualification. They don't replace STCW training, manufacturer training or the certification technicians need for this work. The manufacturer's manual and your flag's rules always come first.

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