3.1 At the assembly stations, passengers are to
be accounted for, given instructions, information on the nature of
the emergency and the steps being taken to deal with the emergency.
If necessary, passengers should be prepared and organized to abandon
ship.
3.2 As far as practicable, assembly station assignments
should be made on the basis of passengers' most probable location
on the ship, as an example, passengers assigned to cabins should be
assigned to an assembly station in the same or an adjacent main vertical
zone as the cabin; unberthed passengers should be assigned to or directed
to an assembly station in the same or adjacent main vertical zone
of the public space where they are located.
3.3 Furniture that is not fixed should be designed
to be quickly folded or stowed to make the necessary space available.
3.4 An assembly station may serve several embarkation
stations and should be as close as possible to the embarkation stations
it serves, preferably on the same deck. Access from assembly stations
to embarkation stations should be suitably sheltered and protected.