Improve safety of vehicle deck access openings and increase sill heights

In conjunction with all such arrangements, detailed consideration should be given to access openings from the vehicle deck. Casings and trunks usually contain staircases leading down to spaces below the bulkhead deck and up either to another vehicle deck or to accommodation. In the HERALD casualty the first indication of trouble was water coming down the stairs into the forward drivers' accommodation. There was little to stop water going into the lower levels of accommodation. This point was underlined by Mr. Taggart in his evidence about attempts to obtain agreement on Regulation 8 of the 1974 Amendments to SOLAS Convention. Questioned regarding the residual range of stability and the contrast between the maximum heel figure of 7° proposed by the United Kingdom and others as against the 20° proposed by the U.S.A. and the U.S.S.R., Mr. Taggart said that to achieve the latter angle would be extremely difficult. "I would think to achieve 20° in most vessels there are so many problems in passenger vessels with accesses within the ship to below decks that effectively your curve is terminated because of progressive flooding problems well before 20° of heel. That is not 20° angle of heel from upright; that is 20° from the equilibrium position . . . So that you are talking about possibly 27° or more. You would require to keep all your openings safe so that no progressive flooding could occur within say 27°. It would be a major problem . . . It is most important in these things not to impose criteria which are impossible to achieve." It should not be very difficult in Ro-Ro passenger ferries to ensure major improvements in these respects. Sill heights should be increased appreciably. Wherever possible access to spaces such as the engine room and below bulkhead deck passenger accommodation should be without intermediate access to the bulkhead deck. Exits in the casings from this vehicle deck should lead only upwards. Access to below bulkhead deck spaces, except where through watertight doors kept shut at sea, should be from the deck above the bulkhead deck. The Court does not agree that it would be a major problem to achieve substantially higher downflooding angles. It would seem to be relatively easy and achievable even on many existing vessels. Immediate attention should be given to this point.