The Office of Design and Engineering Standards published Policy Letter 01-20: “Third Party Foam Concentrate Analysis” to provide guidance for the use of U.S. Coast Guard accepted independent laboratories for the analysis of foam concentrate samples for marine fixed foam fire extinguishing systems.

Some inspected vessels are required to have marine fixed foam fire extinguishing systems. During the vessel’s certification and periodic inspection, a representative sample of foam concentrate carried on the vessel must be analyzed by the foam concentrate’s manufacturer. The results of the analysis must appear on a certificate issued by the manufacturer; however, some manufacturers are no longer in business. Therefore, the Commandant (CG-ENG) deems foam concentrate analyses conducted by U.S. Coast Guard accepted independent laboratories to be equivalent to the analyses performed by the foam concentrate’s manufacturer or authorized representative for the purposes of a vessels certification and periodic inspections if the foam concentrate’s manufacturer is not available to conduct the tests required by the regulations.

For more details, view the entire policy letter. Please contact the Coast Guard’s Lifesaving and Fire Safety Division (CG-ENG-4) at typeapproval@uscg.mil with any questions on the material.

This blog is not a replacement or substitute for the formal posting of regulations and updates or existing processes for receiving formal feedback of the same. Links provided on this blog will direct the reader to official publications, such as the Federal Register, Homeport and the Code of Federal Regulations. These publications remain the official source for regulatory information published by the Coast Guard.