29 CFR § 1918.21 - General requirements.

---
identifier: "/us/cfr/t29/s1918.21"
source: "ecfr"
legal_status: "authoritative_unofficial"
title: "29 CFR § 1918.21 - General requirements."
title_number: 29
title_name: "Labor"
section_number: "1918.21"
section_name: "General requirements."
chapter_name: "OCCUPATIONAL SAFETY AND HEALTH ADMINISTRATION, DEPARTMENT OF LABOR"
part_number: "1918"
part_name: "SAFETY AND HEALTH REGULATIONS FOR LONGSHORING"
positive_law: false
currency: "2026-03-24"
last_updated: "2026-03-24"
format_version: "1.1.0"
generator: "[email protected]"
authority: "33 U.S.C. 941; 29 U.S.C. 653, 655, 657; Secretary of Labor's Order No. 12-71 (36 FR 8754), 8-76 (41 FR 25059), 9-83 (48 FR 35736), 1-90 (55 FR 9033), 6-96 (62 FR 111), 3-2000 (65 FR 50017), 5-2002 (67 FR 65008), 5-2007 (72 FR 31160), 4-2010 (75 FR 55355), 1-2012 (77 FR 3912), or 8-2020 (85 FR 58393), as applicable; and 29 CFR 1911."
regulatory_source: "62 FR 40202, July 25, 1997, unless otherwise noted."
cfr_part: "1918"
---


# 1918.21 General requirements.

The employer shall not permit employees to board or leave any vessel, except a barge or river towboat, until all of the applicable requirements of this subpart have been met.

(a) If possible, the vessel's means of access shall be located so that suspended loads do not pass over it. In any event, suspended loads shall not be passed over the means of access while employees or others are on it.

(b) When the upper end of the means of access rests on or is flush with the top of the bulwark, substantial steps, properly secured, trimmed and equipped with at least one substantial handrail, 33 inches (.84 m) in height, shall be provided between the top of the bulwark and the deck.

(c) The means of access shall be illuminated for its full length in accordance with § 1918.92. 
<sup>2</sup>
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<sup>2</sup> § 1918.92 requires, along with other requirements, an average light intensity of five foot-candles (54 lux).