Marine Orders - Part 43: Cargo & Cargo Handling—Livestock, Issue 6
25Cattlearrangement of pens & stalls
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25 Cattlearrangement of pens & stalls
25.1.1 A passageway and means of access must be provided to facilitate the care and removal of animals.
25.1.2 Cattle stalls must be so arranged that access is provided to the rear of each stall.
25.2 The means of closing a cattle access to a pen or stall may be a gate or portable rails:
(a) capable of maintaining continuity of strength and the alignment of the adjoining boundary; and
(b) capable of being secured against accidental lifting or removal.
25.3 If cattle are to be moved between decks, a ramp must be provided that must:
(a) have a minimum clear width of 750 millimetres;
(b) have sides that:
(i) are free from protrusions;
(ii) extend to a height of not less than 1.40 metres perpendicular to the ramp floor; and
(iii) are panelled or sheathed to a height of not less than 1.20 metres perpendicular to the ramp floor;
(c) be fitted with foot battens:
(i) of a minimum height of 50 millimetres and a minimum breadth of 25 millimetres with edges well rounded; and
(ii) spaced at regular intervals of not more than 300 millimetres, each end batten being not more than 200 millimetres from the end of the ramp;
(d) have a gradient not exceeding 1 in 2; and
(e) have a personnel ramp adjacent to each cattle ramp as follows:
(i) having a minimum clear width of 500 mm;
(ii) having a 1 metre high guard rail on the side remote from the cattle ramp;
(iii) being provided with access at each deck that avoids as far as practicable personnel needing to cross the cattle race; and
(iv) being provided with foot battens or non-skid surface.
25.4 If pens or stalls are on an exposed deck, the uppermost pens or stalls must be fitted with a roof of a height that provides at least the minimum clear height required by provision 23 for each pen or stall and that is waterproof and extends not less than 450 millimetres beyond the deck area occupied by the pens or stalls.
25.5 Pens and stalls at the forward end of a livestock structure on or above the uppermost continuous deck and the feeding and watering arrangements provided for those pens and stalls must be effectively screened from sea spray. Suitable arrangements must be made to prevent the ingress of seawater to any part of the pens or stalls in any sea condition.[36]