Liberia Marine Notice SAF-004 – Lifeboat and Emergency Drills
Marine Notice SAF-004 Rev. 10/26 | Liberia Maritime Authority – Lifeboat and Emergency Drills
Revision: October 2026
Supersedes: Marine Notice SAF-004 dated November 2024.
This revised Marine Notice provides guidance to shipowners, operators, Masters and officers on the safe conduct of lifeboat and emergency drills aboard Liberian-flagged vessels and mobile offshore drilling units (MODUs). It addresses the required drill intervals, safe launching and recovery procedures, simulated free-fall launching, alternative arrangements for MODUs and exceptional operational circumstances.
Purpose and Applicability of Lifeboat and Emergency Drill Requirements
Lifeboat drills are intended to verify that life-saving appliances and associated equipment are available, properly maintained and ready for use. They also provide an opportunity to train and assess crew competence in the operation of lifeboats and the management of emergency evacuation.
The Notice applies to owners, Masters, ship officers, Nautical Inspectors and Recognized Organization Surveyors when conducting or assessing drills aboard Liberian-flagged ships and MODUs.
Regulatory References
- Liberian Maritime Regulations 10.296 (6).
- SOLAS 1974, Regulations III/19 and III/25.
- MODU Codes 1989 and 2009, as applicable.
- MSC.1/Circ.1486 and MSC.1/Circ.1486 Corr.1.
- Resolution MSC.402(96).
- MSC.1/Circ.1578.
- Resolution A.1079(28).
Key Safety and Operational Changes Introduced by SAF-004 Revision 10/26
The principal revision concerns Section 7, which has been renamed and expanded to address lowering, maneuvering and exceptional circumstances.
Revised Section 7 Title
Section 7 has been renamed “Lowering and Maneuvering and Exceptional Circumstances”.
Renumbering of Existing Requirements
The previous content in Section 7.0 has been renumbered as paragraph 7.1.
New Paragraph 7.2
A new provision addresses situations where lifeboats or rescue boats cannot be lowered, launched or maneuvered within the prescribed interval because of adverse weather, port or terminal restrictions, or other safety-related operational limitations.
Mandatory Lifeboat and Emergency Drill Requirements
Section 1.0 establishes the required participation and operational intervals for abandon-ship, fire and emergency drills.
Monthly Crew Drills
Each crew member must participate in at least one abandon-ship drill and one fire and emergency drill every month.
Passenger Ships
Passenger ships must conduct at least one abandon-ship drill and one fire and emergency drill every week. The entire crew need not participate in every drill.
Three-Monthly Lifeboat Operations
Each lifeboat must be lowered to the water and maneuvered in the water at least once every three months during an abandon-ship drill.
Davit-Launched Lifeboats
Davit-launched lifeboats must be launched at least once every three months.
Free-Fall Lifeboats
Free-fall lifeboats must be launched by free fall with only the operating crew on board, or undergo simulated free-fall launching, at least every six months, subject to the applicable provisions of the Notice.
Marine Evacuation Systems
Drills must exercise deployment procedures up to the point immediately preceding actual deployment. Regular instruction using the required onboard training aids must supplement these drills.
Additional Training for Marine Evacuation Systems
As far as practicable, every system party member should receive further training through participation in a full deployment of a similar system into the water, either aboard a ship or ashore.
Such training should take place at intervals not exceeding two years, and in no case exceeding three years. It may be associated with the deployments required by SOLAS III/20.8.2.
Safety Principles During Lifeboat Drills
Section 2.0 emphasizes that the prevention of injury and loss of life must remain the primary consideration during lifeboat drills, inspections, testing and maintenance.
Pre-Drill Equipment Checks
Lifeboats and launching equipment must be thoroughly checked by trained crew members before drills to ensure that the systems are operational.
Crew Familiarization
Crew members should be familiar with the functioning, operation and maintenance requirements of the specific launching arrangements installed aboard the vessel.
Supervision and Learning
Drills should emphasize safety and learning. Lessons identified during exercises should be documented and incorporated into follow-up training and planning.
Risk Assessment of Personnel Onboard
Lowering a lifeboat with its full complement of persons may involve unnecessary risk, depending on the circumstances. Such exercises should only be conducted when appropriate special precautions are observed.
Additional Liberian Flag Safety Training
The Master of every Liberian vessel other than a passenger ship must conduct at least one fire and abandon-ship drill every month and organize weekly safety training sessions in accordance with the vessel's training plan over a six-month period.
The training programme should cover applicable subjects including:
- Safety Management System and onboard emergency procedures.
- Portable fire extinguishers, fire mains and fixed fire-fighting systems.
- Self-contained breathing apparatus and thermal protective aids.
- Lifeboats, liferafts and emergency life-saving equipment.
- EPIRBs, emergency communications and distress signals.
- First aid, CPR and man-overboard response.
- Enclosed-space entry and rescue procedures.
- Pollution response and hazardous-material spill response.
- Collision, grounding, loss of steering and loss of propulsion response.
- Shipboard security and stowaway procedures.
The Notice also identifies specific training subjects and frequencies, including quarterly shipboard security drills and enclosed-space entry drills every two months.
Where more than 25% of the crew have not participated in abandon-ship and fire drills aboard that particular ship during the preceding month, the drills must take place within 24 hours of departure from port. When a ship enters service for the first time, undergoes a major modification or engages a new crew, the drills must be held before sailing.
Davit-Launched Lifeboat Drill Procedures
Section 3.0 provides guidance for the safe lowering, operation and recovery of davit-launched lifeboats.
Initial Lowering
Crew members should not be onboard when the lifeboat is first lowered from its stowed position during a drill.
Responsible Person
Launching must be supervised by a responsible person, preferably an officer experienced in the relevant procedures, who must maintain effective communication with the operating crew.
Open Lifeboats
Open lifeboats should initially be lowered to approximately two metres above the water without crew onboard. The boat is then raised to a suitable boarding position before the operating crew embark and the boat is lowered to the water.
Enclosed and Partially Enclosed Lifeboats
Where possible, these lifeboats should initially be lowered approximately two to three metres above the water without crew onboard. The operating crew should embark from the embarkation ladder or deck at a suitable and safe level.
Waterborne Operation
Once waterborne, the painter should be released when safe. Where fitted, the engine should be operated ahead and astern.
Recovery and Stowage
The responsible person must ensure that the lifeboat is correctly engaged with the recovery system, unnecessary personnel have disembarked and the boat is properly raised and stowed in accordance with the manufacturer's instructions.
Definition of Operating Crew
The operating crew is defined as the minimum number of persons, normally three to four, required to release the lifeboat after it is waterborne, operate the boat and engine, and assist with its recovery.
Free-Fall Lifeboat Drills and Launching
Section 4.0 establishes the operational and safety requirements for free-fall lifeboat exercises.
Three-Monthly Water Operation
Free-fall lifeboats must be operated in the water at intervals not exceeding three months.
Six-Monthly Launching Exercise
The lifeboat must be launched by free fall or simulated free fall at least every six months, subject to any applicable Administration dispensation.
Clear Launching Area
The area astern must be free of obstructions along the projected path for a distance of at least one and one-half times the distance the lifeboat is expected to travel before coming to a standstill.
Standby Rescue Boat
Before a free-fall launch drill, the rescue boat should be launched and ready to assist the free-fall lifeboat and support recovery and re-securing operations.
Guidelines for Simulated Free-Fall Launching
Section 5.0 incorporates the guidelines in the appendix to MSC.1/Circ.1578. Simulated launching is intended to provide practical familiarization without physically activating the free-fall release system.
Simulated launching should only be performed using lifeboats and launching appliances designed for this purpose, and in accordance with the manufacturer's instructions.
Equipment and Documentation
Verify that all lifeboat and launching appliance components are in good operational condition and that the required documentation is available.
Manufacturer's Instructions
Ensure that all personnel are familiar with the operating manuals, posters and signs before the exercise.
Restraining Devices
Install and secure the manufacturer's restraining devices and verify that the free-fall release mechanism is correctly engaged.
Communication and Securing Arrangements
Establish effective communication between the responsible person and operating crew. Remove sea-going securing arrangements except those required for the simulated exercise.
Personnel and Seatbelts
Participating crew may board and fasten their seatbelts under the supervision of the responsible person, in accordance with the manufacturer's procedure.
Return to Normal Stowed Condition
Following the exercise, ensure the lifeboat is returned to its normal stowed condition and remove any restraining or recovery devices used exclusively for simulated launching.
Important Safety Restriction
Simulated launching must be conducted without physically activating the free-fall release system. Testing of release systems must be carried out separately and must not take place during simulated launching drills.
Alternative Lifeboat Drill Methods for MODUs
Section 6.0 addresses alternative methods for lifeboat drills on mobile offshore drilling units where the normal three-monthly launching and maneuvering exercise cannot be carried out safely or practicably.
These alternative methods are subject to there being no reduction in the ability to demonstrate the unit's readiness and capability to evacuate personnel safely by lifeboat. The alternative arrangements must be included in the unit's operating procedures.
Equipment and Maintenance
A comprehensive maintenance and inspection plan meeting the applicable guidelines in MSC.1/Circ.1486 and its corrigendum must be in place to the satisfaction of the Administration.
Monthly Lowering Checks
Each lifeboat should be lowered monthly to just above, but not into, the water and returned to its original stowage position. The hull, release and retrieval systems, lubrication, storage and davit operating condition should be checked.
Annual Servicing Participation
As far as possible, personnel responsible for lifeboat launching should participate in annual servicing and functional testing of release gear in accordance with Resolution MSC.402(96).
Competence Assurance
A competence assurance programme must cover crew instruction and practical exercises relating to lifeboats, in accordance with the applicable recommendations for training and certification of personnel on mobile offshore units.
Additional Lifeboat Coxswain Training
The lifeboat coxswain should receive intermediate training at least once every 2.5 years at a facility satisfactory to the Administration.
Practical training should cover:
- Preparing and making the lifeboat ready.
- Deploying and lowering the lifeboat into the water.
- Releasing the lifeboat.
- Propelling and steering the lifeboat.
- Operating onboard systems, including deluge and air systems.
Training should use a lifeboat system identical or substantially similar to the equipment installed aboard the unit.
Simulators may support competence assurance but should not completely replace practical, hands-on training and drills. Training and proficiency records must be readily accessible for inspection.
The alternative methods may also be applied to relevant units under the 1979 and 1989 MODU Codes and to stationary or substantially moored mobile offshore units that are not MODUs, as addressed in the Notice.
Lowering, Maneuvering and Exceptional Circumstances
The revised Section 7 contains provisions for ships operating on short international voyages and for situations where operational or environmental conditions prevent lifeboat exercises within the prescribed intervals.
Paragraph 7.1 – Dispensation for Short International Voyages
Under SOLAS Regulation III/19.3.4.5, operators of ships fitted with lifeboats may request a dispensation from the flag Administration permitting the lifeboats on one side not to be launched where port berthing arrangements and trading patterns do not permit such launching.
All affected lifeboats must nevertheless be lowered at least once every three months and launched at least annually.
Requests should be submitted to the Office of the Deputy Commissioner at the Liberian International Ship and Corporate Registry by email:
The request must identify the vessel by name and IMO number and clearly explain the trading pattern or environmental conditions supporting the request.
Paragraph 7.2 – Exceptional Operational Circumstances
Where a lifeboat or rescue boat cannot be lowered, launched or maneuvered within the prescribed interval due to adverse weather conditions, port or terminal restrictions, or other safety-related operational limitations, the operator must ensure that an entry is made in the ship's logbook in accordance with SOLAS Regulation III/19.5.
The logbook entry must record the circumstances, the extent of the muster, drill or training session conducted, and the reasons why the required lowering, launching or maneuvering could not be completed.
The overdue lowering, launching or maneuvering must then be carried out at the next available safe opportunity, taking into account prevailing conditions and operational constraints.
Operational and Documentation Implications
The new paragraph 7.2 makes proper documentation particularly important when an exercise cannot be completed within its required interval. The shipboard record should clearly demonstrate the operational limitation, the training or muster actually conducted, and the reasons for the deferred exercise.
General Safety Precautions Concerning Lifeboats
Section 8.0 emphasizes the importance of crew familiarity with life-saving appliances and the correct use of safety devices during inspection, maintenance, launching and recovery.
Crew Familiarization
Officers and crew members must be familiar with the life-saving appliances and confident in their ability to use them safely.
Davit Maintenance Safety
Harbor Safety Pins or equivalent safety devices must be fitted when servicing davits in the stowed position to prevent accidental movement.
Prevention of Accidental Release
When personnel are inside stowed lifeboats, hanging-off pendants or manufacturer-provided maintenance pins for free-fall lifeboats should be used to prevent accidental release and dropping.
Maintenance by Competent Personnel
Launching appliances must receive regular maintenance by persons familiar with the manufacturer's instructions.
Use of Checklists
Checklists should be developed and used to verify safety precautions before maintenance or inspections and to ensure correct operating, securing and stowage procedures after use.
Approved Securing Arrangements
No additional securing arrangements should be used unless they are included in the applicable lowering or free-fall instructions.
These standard procedures should be incorporated into each vessel's Safety Management System, as applicable.
Implications for Shipowners, Masters and Safety Management Systems
Shipowners and operators should review their onboard procedures and ensure that the revised requirements of SAF-004 Rev. 10/26 are reflected in the vessel's drill programme, maintenance arrangements and safety documentation.
Drill Planning and Scheduling
Verify that monthly crew participation, three-monthly lifeboat operations and the applicable free-fall launching intervals are properly scheduled and recorded.
Risk Control and Supervision
Ensure that pre-drill checks, competent supervision, crew familiarization and safe embarkation and recovery arrangements are addressed in the procedures.
MODU Alternative Arrangements
Where alternative drill methods are applied, ensure that maintenance, monthly lowering checks, competence assurance and practical training arrangements meet the Notice.
Records and Exceptional Circumstances
Ensure that drill records and logbook entries accurately document any deferred exercise, the reasons for the limitation and the subsequent completion at the next safe opportunity.
Official Liberia Marine Notice SAF-004 Rev. 10/26
Lifeboat and Emergency Drills
Issuing Authority: Liberia Maritime Authority – Office of the Deputy Commissioner of Maritime Affairs.
Notice Number: SAF-004.
Revision: October 2026.
Supersedes: Marine Notice SAF-004 dated November 2024.
Document: Official eight-page Marine Notice.
Access the complete revised Marine Notice directly from the official Liberia International Ship and Corporate Registry website.