What lifejacket is right for your vessel?

No-one can predict what is going to happen at sea, so lifejackets are one of the most crucial pieces of equipment onboard any vessel.

Importantly, you need to understand the details of which lifejacket is right for you.

Do you know what types of lifejackets are available and how they work? There’s a range of self-inflating, manual inflating or foam buoyancy lifejackets on the market.

Do you know the requirements by law for your vessel? What are the lifejacket requirements for your vessel class and operational area? If you operate in multiple operational areas, did you know you need to carry lifejackets required for your highest category of operation.

Have you done a risk assessment for lifejacket use on your vessel? Do you know what type to use, where they are stored, and when will they be used? Have you trained your crew on these procedures and how to use a lifejacket? You can find more here.

Lifejackets are crucial to safety, so it’s important they are correctly serviced and maintained (especially re-gassing self-inflating models) and how to store lifejackets for ease of access?

The Australian Maritime Safety Authority (AMSA) has developed a one-stop shop for all this information on its website.

AMSA has worked with commercial fishers operating to develop examples to assist operators to update their risk assement, and to develop a lifejacket wear procedure that suits their operation.

These examples have been developed for each specific fishery sectors, such as trawl, pot, net, etc.

All risk assessments and lifejacket wear procedures must be tailored to vessels, taking into consideration their specific operation. As such, the information and details provided are for general information and shared on the understanding that AMSA is not providing specific advice on a particular matter, but rather an overview of lifejacket safety.

You can view some examples here.

There’s also two videos to assist with the messaging to industry that have been developed along this theme.

Lifejacket safety

Life jacket risk management

This lifejacket safety campaign is the beginning of a multi-year sustained safety initiative by AMSA to improve attitudes and safety practices around lifejacket wearing on the water.

Further information contact Steve Whitesmith, [email protected], 0408 976 282.

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