Representatives from IMO and the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) have met informally to discuss a way forward for the harmonization of requirements for helidecks, helicopter landing areas and winching areas. Dr. Susumu Ota, Chairman of IMO’s Sub-Committee on Ship Systems and Equipment (SSE) held a meeting (on 12 May) with Mr. Kevin Payne, rapporteur of the offshore sub-group of the ICAO Heliport Design Working Group (HDWG) of the Aerodromes Design and Operations Panel (ADOP), at IMO Headquarters in London. The HDWG is currently updating the Heliport Manual, Third Edition, 1995, in particular the provisions relating to winching areas on ships and helideck rescue and fire-fighting facilities, while the SSE Sub-Committee, at its 2nd session in March, developed a draft of the new chapter 17 of the International Code for Fire Safety Systems (FSS Code), to include mandatory requirements for helicopter facility foam fire-fighting appliances, as well as consequential modifications to SOLAS regulation II-2/18 (Helicopter facilities) and chapter 9 of the Code for the construction and equipment of Mobile offshore drilling units (MODU Code), 2009.