46 C.F.R. § 107.111
Definitions.
Cite as 46 C.F.R. § 107.111 (2026)
As used in this subchapter:
Accommodation
means a cabin or other covered or enclosed place intended to carry persons.
Anniversary date
means the day and the month of each year, which corresponds to the date of expiration of the Certificate of Inspection.
Approval series
means the first six digits of a number assigned by the Coast Guard to approved equipment. Where approval is based on a subpart of subchapter Q of this chapter, the approval series corresponds to the number of the subpart. A listing of current and formerly approved equipment and materials may be found on the Internet at:
http://cgmix.uscg.mil/equipment.
Approved
means approved by the Commandant.
Column stabilized unit
means a unit with the main deck connected to the underwater hull of footings by columns or caissons.
Commandant
means the Commandant of the Coast Guard or his authorized representative.
District Commander
means an officer of the Coast Guard who commands a Coast Guard District described in 33 CFR Part 3 or his authorized representative.
Drillship
means a surface type unit with a single shipshape displacement hull.
Embarkation ladder
means the ladder provided at survival craft embarkation stations to permit safe access to survival craft after launching.
Embarkation station
means the place where a survival craft is boarded.
Float-free launching
means the method of launching a survival craft or lifesaving appliance whereby the craft or appliance is automatically released from a sinking unit and is ready for use.
Free-fall launching
means the method of launching a survival craft whereby the craft, with its full complement of persons and equipment on board, is released and allowed to fall into the sea without any restraining apparatus.
Headquarters
means Commandant (CG-00), Attn: Commandant, U.S. Coast Guard Stop 7000, 2703 Martin Luther King Jr. Avenue SE., Washington, DC 20593-7000.
Immersion suit
means protective suit that reduces loss of body heat of a person wearing it in cold water.
Industrial systems and components
means any machinery or equipment except diving systems on board a mobile offshore drilling unit for use in the industrial function of the unit.
Inflatable appliance
means an appliance that depends upon nonrigid, gas-filled chambers for buoyancy and that is normally kept uninflated until ready for use.
Inflated appliance
means an appliance that depends upon nonrigid, gas-filled chambers for buoyancy and that is kept inflated and ready for use at all times.
International service
means operation of a mobile offshore drilling unit on an international voyage or in waters under the jurisdiction of foreign nations or the United Nations.
Launching appliance
or
launching arrangement
means the method or devices for transferring a survival craft or rescue boat from its stowed position to the water. For a launching arrangement using a davit, the term includes the davit, winch, and falls.
Lifejacket
means a flotation device approved as a life preserver or lifejacket.
Marine evacuation system
means an appliance designed to rapidly transfer large numbers of persons from an embarkation station by means of a passage to a floating platform for subsequent embarkation into associated survival craft, or directly into associated survival craft.
Marine inspector
means any person designated by an Officer in Charge, Marine Inspection, as a marine inspector.
Master
or
Person in charge
means a person designated under § 109.107.
Mobile offshore drilling unit
or
unit
means a vessel, except a public vessel of the United States, capable of engaging in drilling operations for the exploration or exploitation of subsea resources that is—
(1) Seagoing and 300 or more gross tons and self-propelled by motor;
(2) Seagoing and 100 or more gross tons and non-self-propelled; or
(3) More than 65 feet in length and propelled by steam.
Muster station
means the place where the crew and industrial personnel assemble before boarding a survival craft.
Non-self-propelled unit
means a unit which is not self-propelled.
Novel lifesaving appliance or arrangement
means one that has new features not fully covered by the provisions of this subchapter but providing an equal or higher standard of safety.
Officer in Charge, Marine Inspection
means an officer of the Coast Guard who commands a Marine Inspection Zone described in 33 CFR Part 3 or his authorized representative.
Pilot boarding equipment
means a pilot ladder, accommodation ladder, pilot hoist, or combination of them as required by this subchapter.
Point of access
means the place on deck of a vessel where a person steps onto or off of pilot boarding equipment.
Rescue boat
means a boat designed to rescue persons in distress and to marshal survival craft.
Retrieval means
the safe recovery of survivors.
Seagoing condition
means the operating condition of the unit with the personnel, equipment, fluids, and ballast necessary for safe operation on the waters where the unit operates. For bottom-bearing mobile offshore drilling units (MODU), the term also applies in the bottom-bearing mode, but the lightest seagoing condition is considered to be the highest anticipated operating condition.
Self-elevating unit
means a unit with moveable legs capable of raising its hull above the surface of the sea.
Self-propelled unit
means a unit that has propulsion machinery that provides for independent underway navigation.
Surface type unit
means a unit with a ship shape or barge type displacement hull of single or multiple hull construction intended for operation in the floating condition.
Survival craft
means a craft capable of sustaining the lives of persons in distress after abandoning the unit on which they were carried. The term includes lifeboats and liferafts, but does not include rescue boats.
Watertight
means designed and constructed to withstand a static head of water without any leakage, except that
watertight equipment
means enclosed equipment so constructed that a stream of water from a hose (not less than 1 inch in diameter) under head of about 35 feet from a distance of about 10 feet, and for a period of 5 minutes, can be played on the apparatus without leakage.
Weathertight
means that water will not penetrate into the unit in any sea condition, except that
weathertight equipment
means equipment so constructed or protected that exposure to a beating rain will not result in the entrance of water.
Widely-separated locations
as the term applies to the location of lifeboats on self-elevating units, means locations on different sides or ends of the unit separated by sufficient distance or structure to protect the lifeboats in one location from a fire or explosion occurring at or near the lifeboats in another location on the unit. Locations across from each other at the apex of a unit with a triangular deck are not widely-separated locations unless there is a substantial solid structure between them.
[CGD 73-251, 43 FR 56802, Dec. 4, 1978, as amended by CGD 79-032, 49 FR 25455, June 21, 1984; CGD 88-070, 53 FR 34534, Sept. 7, 1988; CGD 84-069, 61 FR 25289, May 20, 1996; 63 FR 52814, Oct. 1, 1998; USCG-1999-4976, 65 FR 6503, Feb. 9, 2000; USCG-2013-0671, 78 FR 60151, Sept. 30, 2013; USCG-2015-0867, 80 FR 62469, Oct. 16, 2015]
- Cross-references to the CFR
- 109.107.