The Kuwait Government has notified ClassNK of maintenance, inspection and tests of fire-protection and fire fighting systems on board Kuwait-registered ships on board Kuwait-registered ships, where are produced as follows.

1. Portable fire extinguishers
(1) Inspections of portable fire extinguishers (water, foam and dry chemical) are to be carried out every 2 years. Fire fighting medium is to be replaced if necessary.
(2) Internal inspections, hydrostatic testing and replacement of the medium for portable fire extinguishers (water, foam and dry chemical) are to be carried out every 4 years. If case of dry chemical fire extinguishers, insides of the containers are to be completely dried out after hydrostatic testing.
(3) Hydrostatic testing for portable CO2 gas fire extinguishers is to be carried out in the period not exceeding 10 years.
(4) Measurement of weight or CO2 level of CO2 container for portable CO2 gas fire extinguishers is to be carried out in every 2 years.

2. Movable foam extinguishers
(1) Sampling testing of fire medium is to be carried out every 2 years to confirm validity.
(2) Internal inspection and replacement of the medium are to be carried out every 4 years. Worn out is to be carefully examined, and hydrostatic testing is to be carried out if necessary.

3. Self-contained breathing apparatus for fire fighter's outfit
(1) Hydrostatic testing are to be carried out in the period of not exceeding 5 years.
(2) For super light cylinders, hydrostatic testing are to be carried out in the period of not exceeding 3 years.

4. Fixed CO2 gas fire-extinguishing system
(1) Measurement of weight or CO2 level of CO2 containers is to be carried out in every 2 years.
(2) Hydrostatic testing of CO2 containers are to be carried out at the 5 anniversary. 25% of total number of containers are to be hydrosatically tested every 5 years thereafter. If any single container found defective, all remaining containers are to be tested at those testing.

(To be continued)
5. Maintenance, inspection and tests
In addition to above, maintenance, inspection and tests of fire-protection and fire fighting systems should be carried out based on MSC/Circ. 850.

For any questions about the above, please contact:

NIPPON KAIJI KYOKAI (ClassNK)
Survey Department, Administration Center, Head Office
Address: 4-7 Kioi-cho, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo 102-8567, Japan
Tel.: +81-3-5226-2027 / 2028
Fax: +81-3-5226-2029
E-mail: svd@classnk.or.jp