Lifejackets and lights: carriage, checks, service (LSA 2.2)

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A lifejacket is the one piece of life-saving equipment every person on board is given. It has to work for someone who has never worn one, in the dark, after a jump from the deck, and keep an unconscious person’s mouth out of the water. Since 2010 the IMO standard has been tested against a reference lifejacket on real volunteers, and it covers infants, children and people up to 140 kg.

Lifejackets are also one of the commonest small findings in surveys and port state control (PSC) inspections: a missing child lifejacket that is listed on the ship’s Record of Equipment, a light with an expired battery, a stowage box without its symbol. None of these are hard to fix, which is why inspectors treat them as a sign of how well the monthly inspection is done.

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In this lesson

Try it: Who deals with it, and when?
In plain words
In detail
What the rules say
Flag and class notes
Key numbers
What inspectors find
Questions people ask
Quiz: 5 questions

Sources

1 SOLAS 1974, chapter III, regulation 7.2 (Lifejackets), as adopted by IMO Resolution MSC.47(66) (in force 1 July 1998). https://wwwcdn.imo.org/localresources/en/KnowledgeCentre/IndexofIMOResolutions/MSCResolutions/MSC.47(66).pdf
2 IMO Resolution MSC.201(81), Amendments to SOLAS (adopted 18 May 2006, in force 1 July 2010), amendments to regulation III/7.2.1. https://wwwcdn.imo.org/localresources/en/KnowledgeCentre/IndexofIMOResolutions/MSCResolutions/MSC.201(81).pdf
3 IMO Resolution MSC.207(81), Amendments to the LSA Code (adopted 18 May 2006, in force 1 July 2010), new section 2.2 (Lifejackets) and paragraph 1.2.2.6. https://wwwcdn.imo.org/localresources/en/KnowledgeCentre/IndexofIMOResolutions/MSCResolutions/MSC.207(81).pdf
4 LSA Code, IMO Resolution MSC.48(66), paragraphs 1.2.2 and 1.2.3 (general requirements; period of acceptability and battery expiry). https://wwwcdn.imo.org/localresources/en/KnowledgeCentre/IndexofIMOResolutions/MSCResolutions/MSC.48(66).pdf
5 SOLAS chapter III, regulations 20.8.1 and 20.10 as adopted by Resolution MSC.47(66), and regulation 20.7 as amended by MSC.152(78). https://wwwcdn.imo.org/localresources/en/KnowledgeCentre/IndexofIMOResolutions/MSCResolutions/MSC.47(66).pdf and https://wwwcdn.imo.org/localresources/en/KnowledgeCentre/IndexofIMOResolutions/MSCResolutions/MSC.152(78).pdf
6 IMO Resolution A.1186(33), Survey Guidelines under the HSSC, 2023, Annex items (EA) 1.2.2.31 and (PI) 5.1.3.105.2. https://wwwcdn.imo.org/localresources/en/KnowledgeCentre/IndexofIMOResolutions/AssemblyDocuments/A.1186(33).pdf
7 Bahamas Maritime Authority, Marine Notice 06, Servicing of inflatable lifesaving appliances, version 1.3 (13 January 2026), section 3. https://www.bahamasmaritime.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/MN006-Servicing-of-inflatable-lifesaving-appliances.pdf
8 Indian Register of Shipping, PSC Annual Report 2024, life-saving appliance deficiencies. https://www.irclass.org/media/7954/psc-annual-report-2024.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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