Pyrotechnics: expiry, stowage and disposal

What the ship carries

What each signal must do

The LSA Code, chapter III, sets the performance:²

• Rocket parachute flare (3.1): in a water-resistant casing with printed instructions and integral ignition; fired vertically it reaches at least 300 m and ejects a flare that burns bright red, with an average luminous intensity of at least 30,000 cd, for at least 40 s, descending no faster than 5 m/s.
• Hand flare (3.2): self-contained ignition; burns bright red at an average of at least 15,000 cd for at least 1 minute; keeps burning after 10 s under 100 mm of water; does not endanger the survival craft with burning residue.
• Buoyant smoke signal (3.3): emits highly visible smoke at a uniform rate for at least 3 minutes when floating in calm water, with no flame, is not swamped in a seaway and keeps working after 10 s under 100 mm of water.
• Lifebuoy self-activating smoke signal (2.1.3): smoke for at least 15 minutes, no explosive ignition or flame, not swamped in a seaway.

New types are proven by the IMO test recommendation: three specimens per test, storage at -30 °C and +65 °C for 48 hours each then firing, 96 hours at +65 °C and 90% humidity, 24 hours under 1 m of water, a 2 m drop onto steel plate, and firing by someone wearing immersion suit gloves.³

Expiry dates

The LSA Code leaves the period of acceptability of appliances that age to the Administration and requires them to be marked so that their age or replacement date can be found. Since 1 July 2008 it has said specifically that for pyrotechnics “the date of expiry shall be indelibly marked on the product by the manufacturer”.⁴⁵ The length of life is therefore the maker’s figure as accepted by the flag. The UK, for example, instructs that all pyrotechnics be renewed within four years of the date of manufacture.⁶

Practical management:

• keep a pyrotechnics register for the bridge, each lifeboat, each liferaft (from its service certificate), the lifebuoys and the line-throwing appliance, with expiry dates;
• order replacements two to three months before expiry, allowing for delivery to remote ports;
• for liferafts, the service station replaces pack items whose expiry falls before the raft’s next service date.⁷

Stowage

SOLAS requires the 12 rocket flares on or near the navigation bridge.¹ The UK adds that passenger ships should have a magazine and other ships an acceptable safe and dry place, with attention to spray and rain and with drain holes where magazines are fitted.⁶ In practice: a watertight, clearly marked container on or near the bridge, away from heat sources and flammable stores, with instructions legible.

Disposal

We found no IMO instrument on how to dispose of time-expired pyrotechnics; disposal is governed by the national law of the port State. The UK’s rules are a good model of what is generally expected:⁶⁸

• it is an offence to dump pyrotechnics at sea;
• it is an offence to fire distress pyrotechnics on land, in harbour or at sea for testing, practice or as fireworks, whether or not they are out of date;
• out-of-date pyrotechnics should be landed ashore as soon as possible after expiry;
• routes are: return to the supplier, hand over to a liferaft service station when rafts go ashore, or contact the local authorities for disposal; never put them in general rubbish or leave them at coastguard, lifeboat or police stations.

A liferaft service station approved to A.761(18) must keep spare and obsolete pyrotechnics in a separate, safe and secure magazine away from its servicing and storage spaces.⁷ Record each disposal (date, quantity, type, receiver) in the ship’s records.

For training

Pyrotechnics training should use the maker’s instructions, training aids and videos. If live firing is wanted for training, it must be arranged lawfully with the authorities, with in-date or designated training items, never by firing the ship’s distress signals.