LSA Chapter 1: Categories of LSA & Personal Life-Saving Appliances

1. Categories of LSA & Abbreviations

When the surveyor asks "which are the categories in L.S.A?", group the appliances into four families:

• Survival craft: Life raft, Life boat.
• Personal LSA: Life buoy, Life jacket, Immersion suit, Anti-exposure suit, Thermal Protective Aid (T.P.A).
• Distress signalling equipment: EPIRB, SART, GMDSS, Pyrotechnics.
• General LSA: Line throwing apparatus, Breathing apparatus (SCABA), EEBD, and the general alarm and P.A system.

Abbreviations to give fluently:

• T.P.A — Thermal Protective Aid.
• EEBD — Emergency Escape Breathing Device.
• SCABA — Self-Contained Air Breathing Apparatus.
• EPIRB — Emergency Position Indicating Radio Beacon.
• SART — Search And Rescue Transponder.
• GMDSS — Global Maritime Distress and Safety System.

2. Life Buoys (SOLAS Regulation)

The life buoy is a personal LSA. For "how many and where on your ship?", check the Fire Control and Safety Plan. The SOLAS regulation numbers are:

• Carrying (minimum): ship length under 100 m = 8; 100–150 m = 10; 150–200 m = 12; above 200 m = 14.
• Size: inner diameter not less than 400 mm (16 in); outer diameter not more than 800 mm (32 in).
• Weight: total mass not less than 2.5 kg and not more than 6 kg.
• Made of inherently buoyant material; colour internationally orange, highly visible.
• Capable of supporting not less than 14.5 kg of iron in fresh water for 24 hours.
• Shall not sustain burning or continued melting after being totally enveloped in a fire for 2 seconds.
• Constructed to withstand a drop into the water from the stowed height above the waterline in the lightest seagoing condition or 30 m, whichever is the greater — without impairing either its operating capability or that of its attached components.
• Marking: the port of registry of the ship.

Accessories:

• Retro-reflective tape — reflects a beam of light back in the opposite direction.
• Grab line — diameter not less than 9.5 mm, length not less than 4 times the outer diameter of the body, secured at 4 equidistant points.
• Self-igniting light — white, burning continuously with luminous intensity not less than 2 cd, 50–70 flashes per minute for 2 hours, battery operated.
• Buoyant life line — non-kinking, diameter not less than 8 mm, breaking strength not less than 5 kN.
• Self-activating smoke signal — quick release from 30 m, burning period at least 15 minutes, orange smoke.

3. Life Jackets & H.E.L.P.

The life jacket is a personal LSA. For "how many, what type and where on your ship?", check the Fire Control and Safety Plan.

• Carrying (minimum): each person on board must have a personal life jacket, plus an extra jacket for the watchkeeper, plus 5% extra at the muster (embarkation) station.
• Types: (1) inflatable, (2) rigid.
• Made of non-flammable or synthetic buoyant material; colour internationally orange, highly visible.
• Worn: must be donned within 1 minute without assistance (by at least 75% of persons) and be comfortable to wear.
• Jump: allows a jump from a height of at least 4.5 m into the water without injury to the jacket or the person.
• Buoyancy: reduced by not more than 5% after 24-hour submersion in fresh water.
• Shall not sustain burning or continued melting after being totally enveloped in a fire for 2 seconds.

Accessories:

• Retro-reflective tape.
• Non-conducting whistle secured with a lanyard.
• Manual igniting light — white, burning continuously with luminous intensity not less than 0.75 cd, 50–70 flashes per minute for 8 hours.

Marking:

• Manufacturer's name, serial number, date of manufacture, weight capacity — and FRONT printed on the front.

4. Immersion Suits & Anti-Exposure Suits

Immersion Suit:

• Carrying (minimum): each person on board must have a personal immersion suit, plus an extra suit for the watchkeeper. Check the Fire Control and Safety Plan for numbers and locations on your ship.
• Types: (1) insulated, (2) un-insulated, (3) worn with a life jacket, (4) having sufficient buoyancy.
• Made of non-flammable, waterproof material; colour internationally red, highly visible.
• Worn: unpacked and donned within 2 minutes without assistance.
• Jump: allows a jump from at least 4.5 m into the water without injury.
• Covers the whole body except the face (hands covered unless permanently attached gloves are provided); fitted with retro-reflective tape.
• Shall not sustain burning or continued melting after being totally enveloped in a fire for 2 seconds — the same 2-second fire rule applies to every personal LSA (buoy, jacket, immersion suit and anti-exposure suit).
• After wearing, the person must be able to work normally, climb up and down a vertical ladder of at least 5 m, swim a short distance and board a survival craft.
• Used in cold weather below freezing point: body temperature must not fall more than 2°C over 6 hours immersion in calm circulating water at 0–2°C.
• A person in fresh water wearing the suit (with or without a life jacket) must turn from face-down to face-up in not more than 5 seconds.

Anti-Exposure Suit:

• Made of non-flammable, waterproof material; colour internationally orange, highly visible.
• Worn: unpacked and donned within 2 minutes without assistance; jump from at least 4.5 m without injury.
• Covers the whole body except head and hands (gloves and hood provided; feet too where the Administration permits).
• Equipped with a pocket for a portable VHF telephone and a lateral field of vision of at least 120°.
• Shall not sustain burning or continued melting after being totally enveloped in a fire for 2 seconds — the same 2-second fire rule as every other personal LSA.
• After wearing: normal work, climb up and down a 5 m vertical ladder, swim at least 25 m through the water and board a survival craft.
• So constructed that, when worn as marked, the suit continues to provide sufficient thermal protection following one jump into the water which totally submerges the wearer: in calm circulating water at 5°C, the wearer's body core temperature must not fall at a rate of more than 1.5°C per hour, after the first 0.5 hour.
• A person in fresh water wearing an immersion suit — or an immersion suit with a life jacket — must turn from face-down to face-up in not more than 5 seconds and stay stable face-up.

Oral tip — pair the suits, don't mix them:

Surveyors love asking the immersion suit and the anti-exposure suit back to back because the numbers rhyme. Anchor on the differences: red vs orange, whole body except face vs except head and hands, retro tape vs VHF pocket + 120° vision, short swim vs 25 m swim, and −2°C / 6 h at 0–2°C vs −1.5°C per hour at 5°C after the first half hour. Everything else — 2-minute donning, 4.5 m jump, 2-second fire rule, 5 m ladder, boarding the craft, 5-second face-up turn — is common to both, so say it once and move on.

5. Thermal Protective Aids & Surveyor Asks

Thermal Protective Aid (T.P.A):

• Made of non-flammable, waterproof material; colour internationally orange, highly visible.
• Thermal conductance not more than 7800 W/(m²·K); reduces both convective and evaporative heat loss from the wearer.
• Functions properly over an air temperature range of −30°C to +20°C.
• Must permit the wearer to remove it in the water in not more than 2 minutes if it impairs the ability to swim.
• Covers the whole body of all sizes wearing a life jacket, except the face (hands covered unless permanently attached gloves are provided).
• Capable of being unpacked and easily donned without assistance in a survival craft or rescue boat.
• When used to enclose a person, it is so constructed that it reduces both the convective and evaporative heat loss from the wearer's body — the aid wraps the survivor, not the other way round.

Oral-exam flow (Q1–Q6):

• Q1 categories: open with the four families — survival craft, personal LSA, distress signalling, general LSA — then the abbreviations T.P.A, EEBD, SCABA, EPIRB, SART and GMDSS.
• Q2 lifebuoys: personal LSA; size 400/800 mm, mass 2.5–6 kg, 14.5 kg iron for 24 h, 2-second fire rule, drop from stowed height or 30 m without impairing the buoy or its attachments, accessories (tape, 9.5 mm grab line × 4 diameters at 4 points, 2 cd / 2 h light, 8 mm / 5 kN life line, 30 m / 15 min orange smoke), marked with the port of registry; numbers from the Fire Control and Safety Plan.
• Q3 jackets: one per person + watchkeeper + 5% at muster; inflatable or rigid; donned within 1 minute by 75% unassisted; 4.5 m jump; buoyancy loss ≤ 5% / 24 h; whistle, tape, 0.75 cd / 8 h light; FRONT marking with maker, serial, date and weight capacity; then H.E.L.P.
• Q4 immersion suits + hypothermia: one per person + watchkeeper; red; 2-minute donning; 4.5 m jump; whole body except face; normal work, 5 m ladder, short swim, board craft; below-freezing use, −2°C / 6 h at 0–2°C; 5-second turn-over; define hypothermia as the cold-water core-temperature fall the suit delays.
• Q5 anti-exposure suits: orange; 2-minute donning; 4.5 m jump; body except head and hands with hood, gloves and VHF pocket; 120° vision; 5 m ladder, 25 m swim, board craft; thermal cover after one full dunk, −1.5°C per hour at 5°C after the first half hour; stable face-up.
• Q6 TPA: conductance ≤ 7800 W/(m²·K), cutting convective and evaporative loss; −30°C to +20°C; removable in ≤ 2 min; all sizes over a life jacket except the face; donned unassisted in the craft.

Read this table across when the surveyor jumps between appliances — every number below is the exact convention figure, nothing added.

Personal LSA numbers at a glance: