The Department for Transport has launched the second UK Maritime Safety Week, running from Monday 1st to Friday 5th July. It celebrates the maritime sector’s performance in health and safety and supports the reduction of preventable deaths in UK waters.
The marine environment can be dangerous, and the week creates a platform to share knowledge, experience and best practice and the opportunity to focus on the challenges that remain.
Although the need to wear a lifejacket was embraced a long time ago it has proven more difficult to convey the importance of a correctly fitted crotch-strap. This may be because it is difficult to visualise how a poorly fitted crotch-strap can undermine the effectiveness of an otherwise perfectly good lifejacket. For this reason, Briggs representatives from all parts of the business came together for a ‘Lifejacket Crotch Strap Awareness’ event, in support of Maritime Safety Week, the highlights can be viewed by clicking on the image below:
It is often underestimated how long a person can survive in cold water. Wearing a correctly fitted lifejacket with crotch straps can double the chances of survival and significantly increase the chance of being found.
Research by the Maritime & Coastguard Agency has concluded that the use of a crotch strap improves lifejacket performance across several measures. In addition, wearing a tightly fitted crotch strap increases lifejacket performance and improves airway protection, both when stepping into water from height and during prolonged wave exposure.