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Liferafts and personal LSALesson 7 of 8

Pyrotechnics: expiry, stowage and disposal

You will know which pyrotechnics a ship carries, how to read and manage their expiry, how to stow them, and what to do with old ones.

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

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A distress flare is a small firework built to an exacting standard: a rocket that climbs to at least 300 m and hangs a red light of 30,000 candela under a parachute for 40 seconds, or a hand flare that keeps burning after being held under water. Its chemistry ages, though. An old flare may fail to light, burn short, or misfire in the hand.

So every pyrotechnic carries an expiry date, and ships end up with a steady stream of out-of-date ones from the bridge locker, the lifeboats, the liferafts and the lifebuoys. Surveyors check that none is out of date. What to do with the old ones trips people up: dumping them at sea, putting them in the rubbish or firing them “for practice” are all wrong, and in some countries illegal. This lesson covers the rules from carriage to disposal.

Continue this lesson free

The rest of this lesson, the interactive The pyrotechnics locker, two months before the annual survey 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: The pyrotechnics locker, two months before the annual survey
  • 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. 1 SOLAS 1974, chapter III, regulations 6.3 (Distress flares) and 7.1.3 (lifebuoy lights and smoke signals), as adopted by IMO Resolution MSC.47(66). https://wwwcdn.imo.org/localresources/en/KnowledgeCentre/IndexofIMOResolutions/MSCResolutions/MSC.47(66).pdf
  2. 2 LSA Code, IMO Resolution MSC.48(66), chapter III (Visual signals, sections 3.1 to 3.3), paragraphs 2.1.3, 4.1.5.1, 4.1.5.3, 4.4.8 and 7.1.1. https://wwwcdn.imo.org/localresources/en/KnowledgeCentre/IndexofIMOResolutions/MSCResolutions/MSC.48(66).pdf
  3. 3 IMO Resolution MSC.81(70), Revised recommendation on testing of life-saving appliances (adopted 11 December 1998), Part 1, section 4 (Pyrotechnics). https://wwwcdn.imo.org/localresources/en/KnowledgeCentre/IndexofIMOResolutions/MSCResolutions/MSC.81(70).pdf
  4. 4 LSA Code, IMO Resolution MSC.48(66), paragraph 1.2.3 (period of acceptability). https://wwwcdn.imo.org/localresources/en/KnowledgeCentre/IndexofIMOResolutions/MSCResolutions/MSC.48(66).pdf
  5. 5 IMO Resolution MSC.218(82), Amendments to the LSA Code (adopted 8 December 2006, in force 1 July 2008), amendment 2 to paragraph 1.2.3. https://wwwcdn.imo.org/localresources/en/KnowledgeCentre/IndexofIMOResolutions/MSCResolutions/MSC.218(82).pdf
  6. 6 UK Maritime and Coastguard Agency, MSIS 14, chapter 16, Pyrotechnic signals and line-throwing appliances (Rev 1.01), sections 16.3 to 16.5. https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/5efb1d343a6f4023c4d19961/MSIS_14_Chapter_16.pdf
  7. 7 IMO Resolution A.761(18), Annex paragraph 1.8 (pyrotechnics magazine at servicing stations), and paragraph 5.11 as amended by MSC.388(94). https://wwwcdn.imo.org/localresources/en/KnowledgeCentre/IndexofIMOResolutions/AssemblyDocuments/A.761(18).pdf and https://wwwcdn.imo.org/localresources/en/KnowledgeCentre/IndexofIMOResolutions/MSCResolutions/MSC%20388%2094.pdf
  8. 8 UK Maritime and Coastguard Agency, MGN 419 (M+F), Disposal of out of date pyrotechnics (marine flares) (July 2010). https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/5a7f218040f0b62305b8543b/MGN_419.pdf
  9. 9 IMO Resolution A.1186(33), Survey Guidelines under the HSSC, 2023, Annex items (EA) 1.2.2.20 and 1.2.2.30. https://wwwcdn.imo.org/localresources/en/KnowledgeCentre/IndexofIMOResolutions/AssemblyDocuments/A.1186(33).pdf
  10. 10 Council of the European Union, CM 1690/25, agenda item on the draft Union submission to MSC 110 proposing a new output for the revision of resolution MSC.81(70) chapter 4 (pyrotechnics testing) (2025). https://data.consilium.europa.eu/doc/document/CM-1690-2025-INIT/en/pdf
  11. 11 Indian Register of Shipping, PSC Annual Report 2024, life-saving appliance deficiencies. https://www.irclass.org/media/7954/psc-annual-report-2024.pdf
  12. 12 IMO Resolution MSC.580(110), Amendments to the Revised recommendation on testing of life-saving appliances (resolution MSC.81(70)) (adopted 27 June 2025), Annex (Part 1 paragraph 2.2 and Part 2 paragraph 2.1, lifejacket buoyancy). https://wwwcdn.imo.org/localresources/en/KnowledgeCentre/IndexofIMOResolutions/MSCResolutions/MSC.580(110).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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