Organization of evacuation from passenger ships – a concept of safety enhancement

This article deals with issues relating to the evacuation of people from large passenger ships. Factors affecting the safety of passenger ships at both design and operational stage are described. The vital regulatory documents concerned with evacuation from ships are indicated. A concept of seeking an optimized evacuation plan at the design stage is presented. It aims at shortening the time of possible evacuation and at current on board planning of evacuation, taking into account inaccessibility of some escape routes.