INTRODUCTION

The most important factor that should be taken into account during the construction of a ship is the crew and passengers’ safety. The most effective approach to safety at sea in any place in the world and at any level relies in three lines of defense (IMO, 2004):

· Prevention, which is the most reliable and cost-effective line and can be achieved through the usage of appropriate materials, suitable training and crew experience, correct information and judgment.

· Survival and self-rescue, which is composed of the equipment, the training and the behavior in order to survive when the situation is out of control.

· Search and rescue, which is the least reliable and cost-effective of the three lines and consists of alert, search and rescue systems.

The object of this report is to examine closely the category of survival and self-rescue by analyzing its’ life saving appliances’ and evacuation systems’ categories as well as penetrating into the relevant rules’ and regulations’ philosophy. The main purpose of the foresaid equipment is to ensure that in case of an unstoppable havoc where the ship’s buoyancy is set on danger, there will be sufficient equipment such as launching devices, rescue boats, lifejackets etc in order the passengers to be escorted out of the (possibly sinking) vessel and remain safely at sea until the rescue teams appear.

The life saving appliances and evacuation systems with which a ship is equipped must keep up with the rules and regulations under which the vessel is constructed and sails. The quantity and the type of the foresaid equipment differ within various ship categories and is extracted by judging from the vessel’s size, purpose and crew/passengers. The Safety of Life at Sea (SOLAS from now on) Convention, the Registers and the Classification Societies can provide the exact number and type of life saving appliances and evacuation systems for a ship of known type, characteristics and general elements.