LSA Code

The International Life-Saving Appliance Code sets the detailed technical requirements and testing standards for the lifesaving appliances that SOLAS Chapter III requires, including lifeboats, rescue boats, liferafts, launching appliances, lifejackets, immersion suits, lifebuoys, and pyrotechnic distress signals. It became mandatory under SOLAS III/34 from 1 July 1998, moving prescriptive detail out of the Convention text. Appliances must be type approved against the Code, and free-fall lifeboats, davit-launched liferafts, and marine evacuation systems each have specific performance criteria.