The International Cruise Victims Association (ICV) Is Pleased to Announce That the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) Has Released Standards for Man Overboard Systems on Cruise Ships

PHOENIX--()--In 2010 ICV, an all-volunteer grass-roots victims advocacy group, played a large role in the passing of Congressional legislation now known as the Cruise Vessel Security and Safety Act. One of the requirements in that legislation was the intent to improve safety by requiring that all cruise ships add man overboard detection systems as soon as the technology became available, explained Ken Carver, ICV chairman, and Jamie Barnett, ICV president.

The long-awaited announcement came on February 13, 2018, as the ISO, an independent, non-governmental international organization which brings together experts to share knowledge and develop voluntary, market relevant International Standards to provide solutions for global challenges, announced that standards for such potentially lifesaving technology have now been released.

The ISO states the following in their news release:

“The new publicly available specification ISO/PAS 21195, Ships and marine technology – Systems for the detection of persons while going overboard from ships (Man overboard detection), provides internationally agreed technical specifications for systems designed to detect a person who has gone overboard from a passenger ship. It covers how the system is expected to perform in a range of environmental conditions and incident profiles.

"Robin Townsend, Chair of ISO/TC 8/SC 1, the ISO subcommittee [which included ICV members] that developed the standard, said this is the first document of its kind to standardize and clearly define technical specifications for such systems in the cruise ship industry.

“With everyone working from the same set of requirements, manufacturers can more easily evaluate safety, effectiveness and performance of the systems,” he explained. “This also provides a strong foundation on which new technologies can be developed.”

In addition to the MOB required systems, ICV continues to work with Congress and other entities involved in the implementation of regulations on cruise ships designed to ensure transparency and accountability for passenger and crew safety and security. One notable area of involvement is the required reporting of cruise ship crime statistics, now published publicly each quarter.

ICV will continue its vigilant watch with a renewed effort to make sure that the cruise lines move forward with implementation of these and all other required systems.

Contacts

International Cruise Victims Association
Kendall Carver, 602-989-6752
Chairman
or
Jamie Barnett, 818-355-6462
President
www.internationalcruisevictims.org

Contacts

International Cruise Victims Association
Kendall Carver, 602-989-6752
Chairman
or
Jamie Barnett, 818-355-6462
President
www.internationalcruisevictims.org