Fire on Board the Liberian Passenger Ship Ecstasy, Miami, Florida ...

Factual Information 52 Marine Accident ReportM-00-9Withdraw your opposition to the amendment of the Safety of Life at SeaConvention chapter II-2 to require automatic local-sounding smoke alarms inpassenger accommodation spaces on board passenger ships and support a fulldiscussion of the technical issues involved and any further U.S. Coast Guardactions on this matter before the IMO.On October 13, 2000, the ICCL responded that it did not oppose the technicaldiscussion of audible smoke alarms in its paper to the IMO and was concerned by theinterpretation of the paper. The ICCL letter further stated that member operators hadagreed to install in new and existing ships audibly sounding smoke detectors that would“immediately alert persons to the presence of smoke in their cabin or stateroom or in thecorridor outside.”In a follow-up letter on November 7, 2000, the ICCL President enclosed a standardfor locally sounding smoke detectors that had been adopted by the ICCL Board ofDirectors, which represented all 16 member operators. The ICCL President indicated thatthe adopted policy was ICCL’s response to safety recommendations M-00-8 and -9.In a February 7, 2001, press release announcing the adoption of the mandatoryindustry standards, the ICCL stated that member lines would integrate the industrystandards into their SMS to ensure compliance through internal and external audits.On April 19, 2001, the Safety Board responded to the ICCL:The Safety Board is pleased that on November 1, 2000, the ICCL adopted a policyto member cruise line companies to install audibly sounding smoke alarms in bothcrew and passenger spaces. The Board is further pleased that the ICCL willcontinue to support full and open discussion of technical and operational issuesassociated with any proposal directed toward the enhancement of safety on boardpassenger ships….The Safety Board’s November 1, 2000, advisory acknowledged four of yourmember organizations (Disney, Radisson, Crystal, and Holland-America) fortaking the initiative to install smoke alarms on their vessels, and the ICCL fordeveloping its policy for smoke alarms on member cruise vessels.However, the ICCL has not complied with the recommended action because theICCL is on record at the IMO objecting to locally sounding alarms per its issuepaper dated December 17, 1999. Until this paper is superceded, ICCL has notformally withdrawn its opposition at IMO, which is the subject of the M-00-8 andM-00-9. The Safety Board suggests that ICCL submit to IMO its new policy insupport of locally sounding alarms. Accordingly, until the ICCL has supercededits December 17, 1999, issue paper, Safety Recommendations M-00-8 and -9 areclassified ‘Open—Acceptable Response.’Inspection and maintenance of ventilation ducts. As a result of the Ecstasyfire, on October 20, 1998, the Safety Board issued the following safety recommendationsto cruise vessel owners and operators embarking passengers from United States ports: