The Merchant Shipping (Passenger Ship Construction: Ships of Classes I, II and II(A)) Regulations 1998

General

53.—(1) In every ship the electrical equipment and installations (including any electrical means of propulsion) shall be such that the ship and all persons on board are protected against electrical hazards.

(2) (i) In every ship constructed before 25th May 1980 where the power supply for an automatic sprinkler system is required to have not less than two sources of power supply for sea-water pumps, air compressors and automatic alarms, and that power is electrical, such supplies shall be taken from the main generating sets and from an emergency source of electric power.

(ii) One supply shall be taken from the main switchboard and another from the emergency switchboard, by separate feeders reserved solely for that purpose.

(iii) Such feeders shall be run to a change-over switch situated near to the sprinkler unit and the switch shall normally be kept closed to the feeder from the emergency switchboard.

(iv) The change-over switch shall be clearly labelled and no other switch shall be permitted in these feeders.

(v) For ships constructed on or after 25th May 1980 the electrical arrangements for any automatic sprinkler and fire alarm and fire detection system shall comply with the requirements specified in Schedule 1 of Merchant Shipping Notice MSN 1666 (M).

(3) The electrical equipment and installations in every ship shall be such that—

(a) all electrical auxiliary services essential for the propulsion and safety of the ship will be ensured without recourse to the emergency source of electrical power;

(b) the electrical services essential for safety will be ensured under emergency conditions; and

(c) for ships constructed on or after 1st September 1984, all electrical auxiliary services necessary for maintaining the ship in normal operational and habitable condition will be ensured without recourse to the emergency source of electrical power.