33 Provision of hospital pens & stalls

33.1 If sheep, goats or pigs are carried, hospital pens must be provided corresponding to at least 0.25 per cent of the pen area available for the carriage of those species and, if the livestock is carried on more than one deck, the hospital pens must be distributed on each deck in proportion to livestock carried on that deck, as far as is practicable.

33.2 If cattle are carried, hospital pens must be provided, as far as practicable on each deck, equal to at least 1 per cent of the pen area available on that deck for the carriage of cattle. However, where the pen area for the carriage of cattle on a deck is less than 500 square metres, the hospital pen may be sited on an adjacent deck above or below, provided that the hospital pen is readily accessible to cattle transferred from one deck to the other, and the area of the hospital pen is not less than 1 per cent of the pen area available for the carriage of cattle on the decks it serves.

33.3 Subject to the approval of the Manager, Ship Inspections, the length and breadth of a hospital pen may be less than that specified by Table 3 or Table 5 provided that no side of a pen is less than 1.50 metres in length.

33.4.1 If horses are carried, a hospital stall must be provided in respect of each 20 horses or part thereof.

33.4.2 A hospital stall provided in accordance with 33.4.1 must be so located as to be readily accessible for the transfer of a horse.

33.5 If livestock other than sheep, cattle, horses, goats or pigs are carried, appropriate hospital pens or stalls must be provided.

33.6 Hospital pens or stalls provided in accordance with provision 33 must be constructed to the standard required for the species of livestock for which they are provided and must bear clear identification as spare pens or stalls.

33.7 Animals that are carried individually penned or stalled may be disregarded when calculating the number or area of hospital pens.