Wake-up call for bridge watch alarms

摘要

When delegates of the IMO gather for the Nav 54 (Sub-Committee on Safety of Navigation) meeting in their refurbished London headquarters in June, bridge navigation watch alarms (BNWAS) will be on their agenda. By then these relatively simple devices will have existed in their present form for five years and the Nav 54 delegates will decide whether their carriage will be mandatory. The IMO has never been slow to introduce requirements for items likely to improve seafarers' safety and, at first glance, BNWAS appears to be just such a thing. However, closer enquiry reveals that it induces more controversy than might be expected.