Title 3: Accomodation, Recreational Facilities, Food And Catering

3.1 – Accommodation and recreational facilities
Purpose: To ensure that seafarers have decent accommodation and recreational facilities on board

1. Each Member shall adopt laws and regulations requiring that ships that fly its flag:                                                                                             (a) meet minimum standards to ensure that any accommodation for seafarers, working or living on board, or both, is safe, decent and in accordance with the relevant provisions of this Standard; and                                                                                                                               (b) are inspected to ensure initial and ongoing compliance with those standards.
2. In developing and applying the laws and regulations to implement this Standard, the competent authority, after consulting the shipowners and seafarers organizations concerned, shall:                                                                  (a) take into account Regulation 4.3 and the associated Code provisions on health and safety protection and accident prevention, in light of the specific needs of seafarers that both live and work on board ship, and                                                                   (b) give due consideration to the guidance contained in Part B of this Code.
3. The inspections required under Regulation 5.1.4 shall be carried out when:                                                                                                                (a) a ship is registered or re-registered, or                                                (b) the seafarer accommodation on a ship has been substantially altered.
4. The competent authority shall pay particular attention to ensuring implementation of the requirements of this Convention relating to:                                                                                                            (a) the size of rooms and other accommodation spaces;                (b) heating and ventilation;                                                                              (c) noise and vibration and other ambient factors;                          (d) sanitary facilities;                                                                                          (e) lighting; and                                                                                                      (f) hospital accommodation.
5. The competent authority of each Member shall require that ships that fly its flag meet the minimum standards for onboard accommodation and recreational facilities that are set out in paragraphs 6 to 17 of this Standard.
6. With respect to general requirements for accommodation:              (a) there shall be adequate headroom in all seafarer accommodation; the minimum permitted headroom in all seafarer accommodation where full and free movement is necessary shall be not less than 203 centimeters; the competent authority may permit some limited reduction in headroom in any space, or part of any space, in such accommodation where it is satisfied that such reduction:                                                                   (i) is reasonable; and                                                                                           (ii) will not result in discomfort to the seafarers;                             (b) the accommodation shall be adequately insulated;                         (c) in ships other than passenger ships, sleeping rooms shall be situated above the load line amidships or aft, except that in exceptional cases, where the size, type or intended service of the ship renders any other location impracticable, sleeping rooms may be located in the fore part of the ship, but in no case forward of the collision bulkhead;                                                                                  (d) in passenger ships, and in special ships constructed in compliance with the IMO Code of Safety for Special Purpose Ships, 1983, and subsequent versions (called “special purpose ships”), the competent authority may, on condition that satisfactory arrangements are made for lighting and ventilation, permit the location of sleeping rooms below the load line, but in no case shall they be located immediately beneath working alleyways;                                                                                                            (e) there shall be no direct openings into sleeping rooms from cargo and machinery spaces or from galleys, storerooms, drying rooms or communal sanitary areas; that part of a bulkhead separating such places from sleeping rooms and external bulkheads shall be efficiently constructed of steel or other approved substance and be watertight and gas-tight;            (f) the materials used to construct internal bulkheads, panelling and sheeting, floors and joinings shall be suitable for the purpose and conducive to ensuring a healthy environment;           (g) proper lighting and sufficient drainage shall be provided; and                                                                                                                           (h) accommodation and recreational and catering facilities shall meet the requirements in Regulation 4.3, and the related provisions in the Code, on health and safety protection and accident prevention, with respect to preventing the risk of exposure to hazardous levels of noise and vibration and other ambient factors and chemicals on board ships, and to provide an acceptable occupational and onboard living environment for seafarers.
7. With respect to requirements for ventilation and heating:                 (a) sleeping rooms and mess rooms shall be adequately ventilated;                                                                                                                (b) ships, except those regularly engaged in trade where temperate climatic conditions do not require this, shall be equipped with air conditioning for seafarer accommodation, for any separate radio room and for any centralized machinery control room;                                                                               (c) all sanitary spaces shall have ventilation to the open air, independently of any other part of the accommodation; and            (d) adequate heat through an appropriate heating system shall be provided, except in ships exclusively on voyages in tropical climates.
8. With respect to requirements for lighting, subject to such special arrangements as may be permitted in passenger ships, sleeping rooms and mess rooms shall be lit by natural light and provided with adequate artificial light.
9. When sleeping accommodation on board ships is required, the following requirements for sleeping rooms apply:                           (a) in ships other than passenger ships, an individual sleeping room shall be provided for each seafarer; in the case of ships of less than 3,000 gross tonnage or special purpose ships, exemptions from this requirement may be granted by the competent authority after consultation with the shipowners’ and seafarers’ organizations concerned;                                                            (b) separate sleeping rooms shall be provided for men and for women;                                                                                                                    (c) sleeping rooms shall be of adequate size and properly equipped so as to ensure reasonable comfort and to facilitate tidiness;                                                                                                                  (d) a separate berth for each seafarer shall in all circumstances be provided;                                                                                                          (e) the minimum inside dimensions of a berth shall be at least 198 centimetres by 80 centimetres;                                                              (f) in single berth seafarers sleeping rooms the floor area shall not be less than:                                                                                                        (i) 4.5 square metres in ships of less than 3,000 gross tonnage;      (ii) 5.5 square metres in ships of 3,000 gross tonnage or over but less than 10,000 gross tonnage;                                                              (iii) 7 square metres in ships of 10,000 gross tonnage or over;   (g) however, in order to provide single berth sleeping rooms on ships of less than 3,000 gross tonnage, passenger ships and special purpose ships, the competent authority may allow a reduced floor area;                                                                                                (h) in ships of less than 3,000 gross tonnage other than passenger ships and special purpose ships, sleeping rooms may be occupied by a maximum of two seafarers; the floor area of such sleeping rooms shall not be less than 7 square metres;            (i) on passenger ships and special purpose ships the floor area of sleeping rooms for seafarers not performing the duties of ships’ officers shall not be less than:                                                                         (i) 7.5 square metres in rooms accommodating two persons;     (ii) 11.5 square metres in rooms accommodating three persons;    (iii) 14.5 square metres in rooms accommodating four persons;(j) on special purpose ships sleeping rooms may accommodate more than four persons; the floor area of such sleeping rooms shall not be less than 3.6 square metres per person;                            (k) on ships other than passenger ships and special purpose ships, sleeping rooms for seafarers who perform the duties of ships’ officers, where no private sitting room or day room is provided, the floor area per person shall not be less than:                 (i) 7.5 square metres in ships of less than 3,000 gross tonnage;     (ii) 8.5 square metres in ships of 3,000 gross tonnage or over but less than 10,000 gross tonnage;                                                                    (iii) 10 square metres in ships of 10,000 gross tonnage or over;       (l) on passenger ships and special purpose ships the floor area for seafarers performing the duties of ships’ officers where no private sitting room or day room is provided, the floor area per person for junior officers shall not be less than 7.5 square metres and for senior officers not less than 8.5 square metres; junior officers are understood to be at the operational level, and senior officers at the management level;                                                            (m) the master, the chief engineer and the chief navigating officer shall have, in addition to their sleeping rooms, an adjoining sitting room, day room or equivalent additional space; ships of less than 3,000 gross tonnage may be exempted by the competent authority from this requirement after consultation with the shipowners’ and seafarers’ organizations concerned;                                                                                                           (n) for each occupant, the furniture shall include a clothes locker of ample space (minimum 475 litres) and a drawer or equivalent space of not less than 56 litres; if the drawer is incorporated in the clothes locker then the combined minimum volume of the clothes locker shall be 500 litres; it shall be fitted with a shelf and be able to be locked by the occupant so as to ensure privacy;                                                                                            (o) each sleeping room shall be provided with a table or desk, which may be of the fixed, drop-leaf or slide-out type, and with comfortable seating accommodation as necessary.
10. With respect to requirements for mess rooms:                                  (a) mess rooms shall be located apart from the sleeping rooms and as close as practicable to the galley; ships of less than 3,000 gross tonnage may be exempted by the competent authority from this requirement after consultation with the shipowners’ and seafarers’ organizations concerned; and               (b) mess rooms shall be of adequate size and comfort and properly furnished and equipped (including ongoing facilities for refreshment), taking account of the number of seafarers likely to use them at any one time; provision shall be made for separate or common mess room facilities as appropriate.
11. With respect to requirements for sanitary facilities:                       (a) all seafarers shall have convenient access on the ship to sanitary facilities meeting minimum standards of health and hygiene and reasonable standards of comfort, with separate sanitary facilities being provided for men and for women;            (b) there shall be sanitary facilities within easy access of the navigating bridge and the machinery space or near the engine room control centre; ships of less than 3,000 gross tonnage may be exempted by the competent authority from this requirement after consultation with the shipowners’ and seafarers’ organizations concerned;                                                           (c) in all ships a minimum of one toilet, one wash basin and one tub or shower or both for every six persons or less who do not have personal facilities shall be provided at a convenient location;                                                                                                                   (d) with the exception of passenger ships, each sleeping room shall be provided with a washbasin having hot and cold running fresh water, except where such a washbasin is situated in the private bathroom provided;                                                                              (e) in passenger ships normally engaged on voyages of not more than four hours’ duration, consideration may be given by the competent authority to special arrangements or to a reduction in the number of facilities required; and                                                      (f) hot and cold running fresh water shall be available in all wash places.
12. With respect to requirements for hospital accommodation, ships carrying 15 or more seafarers and engaged in a voyage of more than three days’ duration shall provide separate hospital accommodation to be used exclusively for medical purposes; the competent authority may relax this requirement for ships engaged in coastal trade; in approving on-board hospital accommodation, the competent authority shall ensure that the accommodation will, in all weathers, be easy of access, provide comfortable housing for the occupants and be conducive to their receiving prompt and proper attention.
13. Appropriately situated and furnished laundry facilities shall be available.
14. All ships shall have a space or spaces on the open deck to which the seafarers can have access when off duty, which are of an adequate area having regard to the size of the ship and the number of seafarers on board.
15. All ships shall be provided with separate offices or a common ship’s office for use by deck and engine departments; ships of less than 3,000 gross tonnage may be exempted by the competent authority from this requirement after consultation with the shipowners and seafarers organizations concerned.
16. Ships regularly trading to mosquito-infested ports shall be fitted with appropriate devices as required by the competent authority.
17. Appropriate seafarers’ recreational facilities, amenities, and services, as adapted to meet the special needs of seafarers who must live and work on ships, shall be provided on board for the benefit of all seafarers, taking into account Regulation 4.3 and the associated Code provisions on health and safety protection and accident prevention.
18. The competent authority shall require frequent inspections to be carried out on board ships, by or under the authority of the master, to ensure that seafarer accommodation is clean, decently habitable and maintained in a good state of repair. The results of each such inspection shall be recorded and be available for review.
19. In the case of ships where there is a need to take account, without discrimination, of the interests of seafarers having differing and distinctive religious and social practices, the competent authority may, after consultation with the shipowners and seafarers organizations concerned, permit fairly applied variations in respect of this Standard on condition that such variations do not result in overall facilities less favourable than those which would result from the application of this Standard.
20. Each Member may, after consultation with the shipowners and seafarers organizations concerned, exempt ships of less than 200 gross tonnage where it is reasonable to do so, taking account of the size of the ship and the number of persons on board in relation to the requirements of the following provisions of this Standard: (a) paragraphs 7(b), 11(d) and 13; and (b) paragraph 9(f) and (h) to (l) inclusive, with respect to floor area only.
21. Any exemptions with respect to the requirements of this Standard may be made only where they are expressly permitted in this Standard and only for particular circumstances in which such exemptions can be clearly justified on strong grounds and subject to protecting the seafarers’ health and safety.

3.2 – Food and catering
Purpose: To ensure that seafarers have access to good quality food and drinking water provided under regulated hygienic conditions

1. Each Member shall adopt laws and regulations or other measures to provide minimum standards for the quantity and quality of food and drinking water and for the catering standards that apply to meals provided to seafarers on ships that fly its flag, and shall undertake educational activities to promote awareness and implementation of the standards referred to in this paragraph.
2. Each Member shall ensure that ships that fly its flag meet the following minimum standards:                                                                 (a) food and drinking water supplies, having regard to the number of seafarers on board, their religious requirements and cultural practices as they pertain to food, and the duration and nature of the voyage, shall be suitable in respect of quantity, nutritional value, quality and variety;                                       (b) the organization and equipment of the catering department shall be such as to permit the provision to the seafarers of adequate, varied and nutritious meals prepared and served in hygienic conditions; and                                                                                   (c) catering staff shall be properly trained or instructed for their positions.
3. Shipowners shall ensure that seafarers who are engaged as ships’ cooks are trained, qualified and found competent for the position in accordance with requirements set out in the laws and regulations of the Member concerned.
4. The requirements under paragraph 3 of this Standard shall include a completion of a training course approved or recognized by the competent authority, which covers practical cookery, food and personal hygiene, food storage, stock control, and environmental protection and catering health and safety.
5. On ships operating with a prescribed manning of less than ten which, by virtue of the size of the crew or the trading pattern, may not be required by the competent authority to carry a fully qualified cook, anyone processing food in the galley shall be trained or instructed in areas including food and personal hygiene as well as handling and storage of food on board ship.
6. In circumstances of exceptional necessity, the competent authority may issue a dispensation permitting a non-fully qualified cook to serve in a specified ship for a specified limited period, until the next convenient port of call or for a period not exceeding one month, provided that the person to whom the dispensation is issued is trained or instructed in areas including food and personal hygiene as well as handling and storage of food on board ship.
7. In accordance with the ongoing compliance procedures under Title 5, the competent authority shall require that frequent documented inspections be carried out on board ships, by or under the authority of the master, with respect to:                            (a) supplies of food and drinking water;                                              (b) all spaces and equipment used for the storage and handling of food and drinking water; and                                                                    (c) galley and other equipment for the preparation and service of meals.
8. No seafarer under the age of 18 shall be employed or engaged or work as a ship’s cook.