Inside a Class-Witnessed Test Program
Class surveyors run the clock and judge against their own band. Two witnessed programs — 6/6 and 18/18 within band — earned type-approval and a notation.
A classification society does not accept vendor self-certification — it sends surveyors to watch the test, document the conditions, and write their own report. Two witnessed programs put RoRoSafe's detection through exactly that: a two-day trial that detected six of six staged events within the target latency, and a twelve-day notation program that passed eighteen of eighteen and earned the notation.
Why witnessed testing is different
The distinguishing feature is independence. In both programs the surveyors set up the recording, timed the events with their own equipment, and judged the results against an acceptance band defined by the notation rule rather than by RoRoSafe. The shorter trial staged six events over two days — two sub-runaway thermal anomalies, two cell-level abuse events with controlled venting, a pack-level pre-vent, and a full vent with active suppression — all witnessed and timestamped by the surveyors. Detection landed on six of six inside the target latency band, with about 18 minutes average lead over the reference smoke head and zero false alarms in the witnessed window. That surveyor report, not a datasheet, is the input to the type-approval work targeting the 2027 retrofit window.
What a notation program adds
The fuller program went further. A PCTC operator ran a twelve-day witnessed test against the fire-safety notation published by an IACS member class society, split between a bench facility and an instrumented vessel deck, with two surveyors present full-time and a pre-agreed acceptance band. Eighteen events across the same anomaly-to-vent range were detected within band; the false-positive rate held through a separate 96-hour undisturbed observation window; retention and audit-trail integrity were verified by the surveyors' independent capture; and behaviour under partial network damage was demonstrated with a surveyor-observed cable break. End-to-end latency from measurement to a bridge red-state was under four seconds. The notation was granted.
What the operator did with it
The value to the operator was wider than the notation itself. It presented the notation and the underlying surveyor report in two P&I renewal conversations and a major charterer fixture negotiation — a documented, independent capability statement rather than a vendor claim. The commercial outcomes are confidential, but the operator expanded the program to two further vessels and is targeting fleet-wide notation across its EV-mix routes by the end of 2026. A class notation is the regulatory mandate the trade is actually using in 2026: voluntary on paper, contractual in practice, and faster than the IMO cycle.
Why this matters for owners and class
For shipowners, a class-witnessed program converts detection from a procurement claim into an asset that charterers and underwriters recognise — the same surveyor report answers both audiences. For class societies, witnessed testing against a published acceptance band is how a capability becomes a notation before IMO writes the equivalent rule. And the discipline is the deliverable: an independent report, an acceptance band fixed in advance, and a result the vendor cannot retune after the fact is worth more to a buyer than any performance figure quoted without a witness.
Sources
- RoRoSafe class-witnessed trial records (IACS member class society): two-day witnessed program, six staged events, 6/6 detected within latency, ~18 min average lead over the reference smoke head, zero false alarms; surveyor report feeding type-approval work targeting the 2027 retrofit window.
- RoRoSafe class-notation program records (PCTC operator + IACS member class, NDA): twelve-day witnessed program (bench facility + one instrumented vessel), 18/18 events within the acceptance band, zero false positives in a 96-hour observation window, sub-4-second measurement-to-bridge-red, notation granted; program expanding to two further vessels, fleet-wide notation targeted by end 2026.
- IACS members' fire-safety notations for RoRo / vehicle carriers — the published notation rules and acceptance bands against which the programs were judged (see 'Class-Society Fire Notations for RoRo').
- [VERIFY: witnessed-test figures are internal RoRoSafe and surveyor records; the notation, class society and operator are under NDA and not independently published.]
Questions, answered
What is a class-society-witnessed detection test?+
A test the classification society observes directly rather than accepting on the vendor's word. Surveyors attend, set up their own recording, time the events, and judge the results against an acceptance band defined by the notation rule. In these programs the surveyors witnessed and timestamped every staged event — from sub-runaway thermal anomalies to full cell vents — and wrote the report that feeds type-approval or notation.
What is the difference between a witnessed trial and a class notation?+
The trial is a step; the notation is the outcome. A two-day witnessed trial (6/6 events detected within latency) produces a surveyor report that feeds type-approval work. A fuller twelve-day notation program (18/18 within the acceptance band, notation granted) is judged against a published notation rule and results in the class notation itself — the capability statement an operator can present to charterers and underwriters.
What did the witnessed programs actually measure?+
Detection latency against a pre-agreed band across staged anomaly-to-vent events, false-positive rate over a separate undisturbed observation window (96 hours in the notation program, with zero false positives), retention and audit-trail integrity verified by the surveyors' own capture, and behaviour under a surveyor-observed cable break. End-to-end latency from measurement to a bridge red-state was under four seconds.
Why does an operator want a class notation?+
Because it is the regulatory mandate the trade is using in 2026 — voluntary on paper but contractual in practice, and faster than the IMO cycle. The operator here presented the notation and surveyor report in P&I renewal and charterer fixture conversations as an independent capability statement, then expanded the program toward fleet-wide notation across its EV-mix routes by end 2026.
Continue the thread
Class-Society Fire Notations for RoRo
DNV, Lloyd's Register, ClassNK and ABS each offer fire-safety notations — voluntary on paper, contractual in practice, increasingly priced by underwriters.
The Class-Society Evidence Package
Class approval isn't a sales document — it's a defensible, reproducible body of test evidence that a detection system does what its spec claims.
How Insurers Evaluate a Detection Layer
Four insurance evaluations — hull underwriter, Lloyd's syndicate, P&I club, loss adjuster — tested whether the evidence holds up, not just the alarm.