The Merchant Shipping (Fire Protection) (Amendment) Regulations 1999

17.  In regulation 58:

(a) in paragraph (8) after “on or after 1st October 1994” there shall be inserted “and before 1st July 1998”;

(b) after paragraph (8) a new paragraph (8A) shall be inserted:

“(8A) In the case of a ship constructed on or after 1st July 1998, all fire doors in a division constructed in compliance with regulation 54(1) or 57(1), other than power-operated watertight doors or doors which are normally locked shut, shall comply with the following requirements–

(a) the doors shall be self-closing and be capable of closing against an angle of inclination of up to 3.5 degrees opposing closure;

(b) the approximate time of closure for hinged fire doors shall be no more than 40 seconds and no less than 10 seconds from the beginning of their movement with the ship in upright position. The approximate uniform rate of closure for sliding fire doors shall be of no more than 0.2 m/s and no less than 0.1 m/s with the ship in the upright position;

(c) the doors shall be capable of remote release from the continuously manned central control station, either simultaneously or in groups and shall be capable of release also individually from a position at both sides of the door. Release switches shall have an on-off function to prevent automatic resetting of the system;

(d) hold-back hooks not subject to central control station release are prohibited;

(e) a door closed remotely from the central control station shall be capable of being re-opened at both sides of the door by local control. After such local opening, the door shall automatically close again;

(f) indication shall be provided at the fire door indicator panel in the continuously manned central control station whether each of the remote-released doors is closed;

(g) the release mechanism shall be so designed that the door will automatically close in the event of disruption of the control system or main source of electric power;

(h) local power accumulators for power-operated doors shall be provided in the immediate vicinity of the doors to enable the doors to be operated after disruption of the control system or main source of electric power at least ten times (fully opened and closed) using the local controls;

(i) disruption of the control system or main source of electric power at one door shall not impair the safe functioning of other doors;

(j) remote-released sliding or power-operated doors shall be equipped with an alarm that sounds for at least 5 seconds but no more than 10 seconds after the door is released from the central control station and before the door begins to move and continue sounding until the door is completely closed;

(k) a door designed to re-open upon contacting an object in its path shall re-open not more than 1 metre from the point of contact;

(l) double-leaf doors equipped with a latch necessary to their fire integrity shall have a latch that is automatically activated by the operation of the doors when released by the control system;

(m) doors giving direct access to special category spaces which are power-operated and automatically closed need not be equipped with the alarms and remote release mechanisms required in subparagraphs (c) and (j);

(n) the components of the local control system shall be accessible for maintenance and adjusting; and

(o) power-operated doors shall be provided with a control system of an approved type which shall be able to operate in case of fire, this being determined in accordance with the Fire Test Procedures Code. This system shall satisfy the following requirements:

(i) the control system shall be able to operate the door at the temperature of at least 200°C for at least 60 minutes served by the power supply;

(ii) the power supply for all other doors not subject to fire shall not be impaired; and

(iii) at temperatures exceeding 200°C the control system shall be automatically isolated from the power supply and shall be capable of keeping the door closed up to at least 945°C.”; and

(c) in paragraph (10) for the second sentence there shall be substituted:

• “The requirements for “A” Class integrity of the outer boundaries of the ship shall not apply to exterior doors, except for those in superstructures and deckhouses facing life-saving appliances, embarkation and external muster station areas, external stairs and open decks used for escape routes. Stairway enclosure external doors need not meet this requirement.”.