Lesson 7 · 14 min
Gangways and accommodation ladders – inspection, testing and rigging
You will be able to inspect and rig a gangway or accommodation ladder to the revised IMO guidelines and plan its annual and five-yearly survey items.
Start here
The 2-minute primer
New to this? These 6 cards explain the lesson in plain words. Go through them first and the lesson will make sense.
Primer done.
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1/6Picture this
The front steps everyone uses
Think of the steps up to a busy shop door. Customers, delivery drivers and staff all use them every day. Nobody thinks about them until a step cracks or the handrail wobbles.
A ship’s gangway and accommodation ladder are its front steps. Crew, pilots, agents and visitors all walk over them, often above the water.
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2/6The big idea
Built right, rigged right, checked often
A gangway is a walkway from the ship to the quay. An accommodation ladder hangs down the ship’s side from a small crane arm and winch.
Both must be built to a standard, rigged at an angle they were designed for, with handrails, a safety net and a lifebuoy nearby. They are checked every time they are rigged, examined every year and load tested every five years.
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3/6Words you'll meet
Six words, in plain English
- Gangway
- a portable walkway between the ship and the quay.
- Accommodation ladder
- a stairway hung down the ship’s side, raised and lowered by a winch and wire.
- Davit
- the small crane arm that holds the wire supporting the ladder.
- Stanchion
- an upright post that holds the handrail or rope along the side of the ladder.
- Safety net
- a net rigged below and beside the ladder to catch anyone who slips.
- Maximum operational load
- the heaviest load the ladder is marked to carry, set by its last load test.
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4/6Why it matters
The weak points are ordinary ones
When a gangway collapses or a wire parts, people fall between the ship and the quay, or into the water.
The causes are usually simple: rust where steel fittings meet aluminium, a wire never renewed, a bent post, or a ladder rigged steeper than it was built for. Regular checks catch these before anyone gets hurt.
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5/6In this lesson
What you’ll be able to do
- Inspect a gangway or accommodation ladder each time it is rigged.
- Rig it at a safe angle with net, lighting and lifebuoy in place.
- Know what the yearly examination and five-yearly load test cover.
- Know when the supporting wire must be renewed.
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6/6Quick check
The ladder’s wire is just over 5 years old and looks fine. What now?
Right: supporting wires are renewed when worn or after 5 years at most, whichever comes first, even if they look fine.
The basics
Everyone who boards or leaves a ship in port walks over the gangway or the accommodation ladder: crew, pilots, surveyors, agents, stevedores, families. When one collapses, or a hoisting wire parts, people fall between the ship and the quay or into the water. The weak points are usually ordinary ones: a corroded fitting where aluminium meets steel, a wire never renewed, a bent stanchion, a ladder rigged steeper than it was designed for.
SOLAS regulation II-1/3-9 makes inspection and maintenance of these means of access a duty on every ship, and IMO’s guidelines were revised in 2025. The revision, MSC.1/Circ.1331/Rev.1, updates the construction standards for equipment installed from 1 July 2026 and adds rules on safety nets and the protection of the crew who rig them. Click the parts of the ladder below.
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In the rest of this lesson
- Try it: Parts of an accommodation ladder to check
- In plain words
- In detail
- What the rules say
- Flag and class notes
- Key numbers
- What inspectors find
- 4 questions people ask
- Quiz: 6 questions
- Ask our engineers about this lesson
Familiarisation training from Al Safwan Academy. Finishing a course shows completion of online familiarisation training: it is not an STCW, flag-approved or manufacturer qualification, and these courses don't replace that training. The manufacturer's manual and your flag's rules always come first.