THE ASSEMBLY,
RECALLING
Article 15(j) of the Convention on the International Maritime Organization concerning
the functions of the Assembly in relation to regulations and guidelines concerning
maritime safety,
RECOGNIZING the need to prepare
performance standards for shipborne radio equipment to ensure operational reliability
and suitability of equipment used for safety purposes,
NOTING that regulation IV/14.1 of the International Convention for the
Safety of Life at Sea, 1974 (SOLAS), as amended, requires all equipment to which chapter
IV of the Convention applies to conform to appropriate performance standards not
inferior to those adopted by the Organization,
NOTING ALSO that SOLAS regulation V/12(r) requires all shipborne navigational
equipment installed on ships on or after 1 September 1984 to conform to appropriate
performance standards not inferior to those adopted by the Organization,
HAVING CONSIDERED the recommendation made by the
Maritime Safety Committee at its fifty-ninth
1.
ADOPTS the Recommendation on General Requirements for Shipborne Radio Equipment Forming
Part of the Global Maritime Distress and Safety System (GMDSS) and for Electronic
Navigational Aids set out in the annex to the present resolution;
2. RECOMMENDS Governments to ensure that shipborne radio equipment
forming part of the GMDSS and shipborne electronic navigational aids conform to
performance standards not inferior to those specified in the annex to the present
resolution;
3. REVOKES resolutions A.569(14) and
A.574(14);
4. DECIDES that any reference to
resolutions A.569(14) of A.574(14) in existing IMO instruments be read as a reference to
the present resolution.
Annex Recommendation on general requirements for shipborne radio equipment forming part of the GMDSS and for electronic navigational aids
1 Introduction
1.1 Equipment, which:
.1 forms
part of the global maritime distress and safety system; or
.2 is required by regulation V/12 of the 1974 SOLAS Convention as amended
and other electronic navigational aids, where appropriate; should comply with the
following general requirements and with all applicable performance standards adopted
by the Organization.
1.2 Where a unit of
equipment provides a facility which is additional to the minimum requirements of
this Recommendation, the operation and, as far as is reasonably practicable, the
malfunction of such additional facility should not degrade the performance of the
equipment specified in 1.1
2 Installation
Equipment should be installed in such a manner that it is
capable of meeting the requirements of 1.1.
3 Operation
3.1 The number of operational controls, their design
and manner of function, location, arrangement and size should provide for simple,
quick and effective operation. The controls should be arranged in a manner which
minimizes the chance of inadvertent operation.
3.2 All operational controls should permit normal adjustments to be
easily performed and should be easy to identify from the position at which the
equipment is normally operated. Controls not required for normal operation should
not be readily accessible.
3.3 Adequate
illumination should be provided in the equipment or in the ship to enable
identification of controls and facilitate reading of indicators at all times. Means
should be provided for dimming the output of any equipment light source which is
capable of interfering with navigation.
3.4 The design of the equipment should be such that misuse of the
controls should not cause damage to the equipment or injury to personnel.
3.5 If a unit of equipment is connected to
one or more other units of equipment the performance of each should be maintained.
3.6 Where a digital input panel with
the digits 0 to 9 is provided, the digits should be arranged to conform with
relevant CCITT recommendations.* However, where an alphanumeric keyboard layout, as
used on office machinery and data processing equipment, is provided, the digits 0 to
9 may, alternatively, be arranged to conform with the relevant ISO standard.**
* CCITT Recommendation E161/Q.11.
** ISO Standard
3791. 4 Power supply
4.1 Equipment should continue to operate in accordance
with the requirements of this Recommendation in the presence of variations of power
supply normally to be expected in a ship.
4.2 Means should be incorporated for the protection of equipment from the
effects of excessive current and voltage, transients and accidental reversal of the
power supply polarity.
4.3 If provision
is made for operating equipment from more than one source of electrical energy,
arrangements for rapidly changing from one source to the other should be provided
but not necessarily incorporated in the equipment.
5 Durability and resistance to environmental conditions
Equipment should be capable of continuous operation under the
conditions of various sea states, ship's motion, vibration, humidity and temperature
likely to be experienced in ships.*
* IEC Publications 92-101 and 945. 6 Interference
6.1 All reasonable and practicable steps should be
taken to ensure electromagnetic compatibility between the equipment concerned and
other radiocommunication and navigational equipment carried on board in compliance
with the relevant requirements of chapter IV and chapter V of the 1974 SOLAS
Convention.*
6.2 Mechanical noise from
all units should be limited so as not to prejudice the hearing of sounds on which
the safety of the ship might depend.
6.3
Each unit of equipment normally to be installed in the vicinity of a standard
compass or a magnetic steering compass should be clearly marked with the minimum
safe distance at which it may be mounted from such compasses.
* IEC Publications 533 and 945. 7 Safety precautions
7.1 As far as is practicable, accidental access to
dangerous voltages should be prevented. All parts and wiring in which the direct or
alternating voltages or both (other than radio frequency voltages) combine to give a
peak voltage greater than 55 V should be protected against accidental access and
should be isolated automatically from all sources of electrical energy when the
protective covers are removed. Alternatively, the equipment should be so constructed
that access to such voltages may only be gained after having used a tool for this
purpose, such as spanner or screwdriver, and warning labels should be prominently
displayed both within the equipment and on protective covers.
7.2 Means should be provided for earthing exposed metallic
parts of the equipment but this should not cause any terminal of the source of
electrical energy to be earthed.
7.3 All
steps should be taken to ensure that electromagnetic radio frequency energy radiated
from the equipment shall not be a hazard to personnel.
7.4 Equipment containing elements such as vacuum tubes which
are likely to cause X-radiation should comply with the following requirement:
.1 External X-radiation from the equipment in its normal
working condition should not exceed the limits laid down by the Administration
concerned.
.2 When X-radiation can be generated inside the
equipment above the levels laid down by the Administration, a prominent warning
should be fixed inside the equipment and the precautions to be taken when working on
the equipment should be included in the equipment manual.
.3 If malfunction of any part of the equipment can cause an increase in
X-radiation, adequate advice should be included in the information about the
equipment, warning of the circumstances which could cause the increase and stating
the precautions which should be taken.
8 Maintenance
8.1 The equipment should be so designed that the main
units can be replaced readily, without elaborate recalibration or readjustment.
8.2 Equipment should be so constructed and
installed that it is readily accessible for inspection and maintenance purposes.
8.3 Adequate information should be provided
to enable the equipment to be properly operated and maintained. The information
should:
.1 in the case of equipment so designed that fault
diagnosis and repair down to component level are practicable, provide full circuit
diagrams, component layouts and a component parts list; and
.2 in the case of equipment containing complex modules in which fault
diagnosis and repair down to component level are not practicable, contain sufficient
information to enable a defective complex module to be located, identified and
replaced. Other modules and those discrete components which do not form part of
modules should also meet the requirements of .1 above.
9 Marking and identification
Each unit of the equipment should be marked externally with
the following information which should be clearly visible in the normal installation
position:
.1 identification of the manufacturer;
.2 equipment type number or model identification under which
it was type tested; and
.3 serial number of the
unit.