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

Machinery controls

72.—(1) Effective means shall be provided for the operation and control of main and auxiliary machinery essential for the propulsion and safety of the ship.

(2) In every ship provided with remote control of the propulsion machinery from the navigating bridge and in which the machinery spaces are intended to be manned the following provisions shall apply—

(a) the speed, direction of thrust and, if variable, the pitch of the propeller shall be fully controllable from the navigating bridge under any sailing condition including manoeuvring;

(b) the remote control from the navigating bridge shall be performed by a single control device for each independent propeller; where necessary each such device shall be provided with means of preventing overload of the propulsion machinery: provided that multiple propeller installations may be controlled by a single control device;

(c) propulsion machinery movements selected at the navigating bridge shall be indicated in the main machinery control room or at the manoeuvring platform as appropriate;

(d) the main propulsion machinery shall be provided with an emergency stopping device, located on the navigating bridge, which shall be independent of the controls otherwise required by this regulation;

(e) remote control of the propulsion machinery shall be possible from only one location at a time. Inter-connected control units may be permitted at such locations. There shall be provided at each location an indicator showing which location is in control of the propulsion machinery. Transfer of control between the navigating bridge and the machinery spaces shall only be possible from the machinery space or the main machinery control room. The control system shall be arranged so that the propeller thrust does not alter significantly when control is transferred from one station to another;

(f) means shall be provided to control the propulsion machinery locally in the event of failure of the remote control system;

(g) the design of the propulsion machinery remote control system shall be such that in the event of its failure an alarm will be given and the pre-set speed and direction of thrust maintained until local control is in operation. This requirement need not be met if other essential features of the system design render compliance impracticable;

(h) indication shall be given on the navigating bridge of—

(i) propeller speed and direction of rotation in the case of fixed pitch propellers;

(ii) propeller speed and pitch position in the case of controllable pitch propellers;

(i) the number of automatic and consecutive attempts which fail to start any internal combustion propulsion engine shall be limited so as to maintain sufficient air pressure for further attempts under local control; and

(j) an alarm shall be provided on the navigating bridge and in the machinery space to indicate low starting pressure at a level which still permits further main propulsion machinery starting operations.

(3) Every ship provided with remote or automatic control of the main propulsion and its associated machinery, including the sources of main electric supply, enabling that machinery to be operated and supervised from a control room shall be as safe as if the machinery is under direct supervision.

(4) Any automatic starting, operating or control systems shall include provisions for manually overriding the automatic controls and shall be so designed that the failure of any part of such systems shall not prevent their operation manually.