1 Safety of Life at Sea, 1974 (SOLAS) Chapter II-2. Construction ...

Means of Escape (Cargo Ships)• The layout of the stairways shall provide the access from all theaccommodation areas and from areas where the crew is normally,means of escape to the exposed deck and from there to the life boats– At all levels of accommodation there shall be at least 2 widelyseparated means of escape, for each restricted space or group ofspaces– Below the lowest open deck, the main escape way will be a stairwayand the second escape may be a trunk or a stairway– Above the lowest open deck the escape ways shall be stairways ordoors to an open deck– No dead-end corridors with length > 7 m will be acceptableM.Ventura SOLAS - Fire Protection 81Means of Escape (Cargo Ships)• In general, the machinery spaces of category A will always have 2escape ways:– 2 sets of steel stairs as widely apart as possible, leading to doorson the upper zone of the space, from where there is direct accessto the exposed deck. In general these stairs shall providecontinuous protection against fire– 1 steel stair leading to a door on the upper area of the space and,additionally, a steel door on the lower zone of the space, capableof being operated from both sides, and giving access to a directexit to the deckM.Ventura SOLAS - Fire Protection 8241