New Bridge Alert Management now effective

From August 2021

by The Editorial Team 

September 9, 2021

From 30 August 2021, the EU Marine Equipment Directive (MED) requires compliance with the Bridge Alert Management (BAM) test standards IEC 62923-1 / IEC 62923-2 for new installation of GMDSS communication equipment’s placed on board SOLAS ships.

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BAM is a critical safety initiative, intended to reduce the number of similar _alert_ signals on a vessel’s bridge. According to MSC 302/A, BAM refers to the overall concept for management, handling and harmonized presentation of _alert_s on the bridge.

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Τhe BAM should provide:

• the means used to draw the attention of the bridge team to the existence of _alert_ situations;

• the means to enable the bridge team to identify and address that condition;

• the means for the bridge team and pilot to assess the urgency of different _alert_ situations in cases where more than one _alert_ situation has to be handled;

• the means to enable the bridge team to handle _alert_ announcements; and

• the means to manage all _alert_-related states in a distributed system structure in a consistent manner.

In essence, with this EU requirement, _alert_s define the responsible person for handling them, making decision-making easier and enabling the operator to immediately identify issues and take appropriate action to maintain safe operations. The implementation of the new requirement for September 2021, aims to increase the standard of new communications’ equipment and raise the bar for safety at sea.

Bridge Alert Management (BAM) is a regulatory requirement, defined by the EU Marine Equipment Directive, for the management, handling and harmonized presentation of _alert_s on the bridge. It imposes requirements on equipment that generates, manages and presents _alert_s on the bridge, including equipment that provides Central Alert Management (CAM) system functionalities (the latter is optional).

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IEC 62923-1:2018 specifies the operational and performance requirements, methods of testing, and required test results for the bridge _alert_ management (BAM) in support of IMO resolution MSC.302(87). It is applicable to all _alert_s presented on and transferred to the bridge

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IEC 62923-2:2018 specifies standard _alert_ identifiers and reserved cluster identifiers to be used when applying bridge _alert_ management. The intent is to reduce the number of different identifiers used for similar _alert_s as much as possible.

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BAM capable equipment without the appropriate certification, either based on MED or another flag state approval, is not in compliance with IMO requirements and cannot, therefore, be legally released onto the market, explains Niels Peter Agdal, Director – Radio, Safety & Tracking at Cobham SATCOM.

”For owners and operators, this means that all new equipment installed after 30 August 2021 will need to be compliant with BAM test standards. To futureproof operations, owners and operators must therefore consider communication equipment that fulfils BAM requirements or risk losing out on a substantial investment.” Mr Agdal commented on Linkedin.

Navigation- and radio-communication equipment to be installed on EU (incl. EEA) ships after 30 August 2021 should include the IEC 62923-1 and -2 standards on BAM within the scope of the MED certificates. Furthermore, all ECDIS installed after the 1st of September 2021 need to comply with IEC62923-1 and IEC62923-2 standard _alert_ and cluster identifier for Bridge Alarm Management (BAM).