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Chapter III of SOLAS governs what keeps people alive when the ship cannot be saved: the survival craft, rescue boats, and personal equipment, plus the muster, drill, and maintenance regime that makes them work in an emergency. Its detailed performance standards live in the mandatory Life-Saving Appliances (LSA) Code. Almost every weekly and monthly safety inspection a deck crew performs — davits, hooks, hydrostatic release units, liferaft servicing dates — comes from this chapter.
The chapter is split into Part A (general), Part B (requirements for ships — divided into cargo ships and passenger ships and covering survival-craft numbers, muster and embarkation, drills, operational readiness and maintenance), and Part C (miscellaneous). The LSA Code then specifies exactly how each appliance must perform.
Lifeboats may be partially or totally enclosed, or freefall (common on tankers and bulk carriers, launched down a stern ramp). Liferafts are inflatable, either throw-over or davit-launched, packed in a container with a hydrostatic release unit (HRU) that frees and inflates the raft if the ship sinks. Every ship also carries a rescue boat (on some ships a lifeboat doubles as one) to recover a person from the water and marshal liferafts; certain ships carry a fast rescue boat. Capacity, launching appliances, and stowage all follow defined rules so the craft can be launched with an adverse list and trim.
Each person is provided with a lifejacket (with light and whistle), and ships carry immersion suits and/or thermal protective aids suited to the trade and water temperature. Lifebuoys are distributed around the ship — some with self-igniting lights, some with self-activating smoke signals, and at least one on each side with a buoyant line. Pyrotechnic distress signals (rocket parachute flares, hand flares, buoyant smoke) and a line-throwing appliance complete the personal and signalling equipment; EPIRBs and SARTs are covered under Chapter IV.
The muster list assigns every crew member an emergency duty and station and is posted throughout the ship; emergency instructions are provided for every person onboard. New joiners must be given onboard training within a set period. Abandon-ship and fire drills run at least monthly, lifeboats are launched and manoeuvred on a defined cycle, and a training manual plus onboard training aids support continuous familiarisation. Passenger ships additionally muster passengers before or shortly after departure.
Lifeboat launching has its own tragic history: accidental operation of on-load release hooks during drills has caused numerous deaths. SOLAS III now requires operational readiness, maintenance, and thorough examination of survival craft and their launching and release gear on a defined schedule, plus fall-preventer devices and strict procedures during drills. Weekly and monthly inspections, and shore servicing of liferafts, HRUs, and inflatable appliances at approved intervals, are the routine backbone of the chapter.
In general a cargo ship must carry, on each side, survival craft (lifeboats or liferafts) with total capacity for everyone onboard — and enough liferafts that if the craft on one side are lost, those on the other side still hold everyone. Many cargo ships instead carry a single freefall lifeboat aft for 100% of persons plus liferafts. Passenger ships have their own, higher, arrangements.
A lifeboat's on-load release hooks let it be released while still under load during launch. Accidental or failed operation during drills has killed and injured many seafarers. After a series of fatal accidents, IMO tightened SOLAS III and issued mandatory requirements to evaluate and, where needed, replace non-compliant on-load release and retrieval systems, and to follow strict drill procedures with fall-preventer devices.
Every crew member takes part in an abandon-ship drill and a fire drill at least monthly. Each lifeboat is launched with its assigned operating crew and manoeuvred in the water at least every three months; on cargo ships, freefall lifeboats are either freefall-launched or lowered with drills on a defined cycle. Weekly and monthly inspections of survival craft, launching gear, and release gear are also required.