Innovative new offshore safety system
International safety expert, Cobham Life Support has introduced a new safety system, Survivor+ Personal Overboard Survival System, a new class of ‘wearable’ Personal Flotation Device (PFD).
The device uniquely incorporates both a SOLAS approved inflatable life jacket and a personal life raft into a single system worn as a compact vest for maximum readiness and survivability.
“Survivor+ is designed to address key factors during vessel or platform evacuation and Man Overboard scenarios where death through drowning or hypothermia is all too common,” said Don Blackman, engineering research manager, Cobham Life Support.
He added: “Freezing sea and air temperatures, disorientation, panic, and high sea states can overcome a victim quickly even when wearing a traditional life jacket or immersion suit. With Survivor+, victims can get out of the water and into the safety of their own automatically deployed life raft quickly and easily, staying protected from the elements until they are rescued.”
The Survivor+ concept is based on survival gear developed by Cobham that has been in use by the military for over 20 years.
Cobham Life Support, part of Cobham plc’s Cobham Mission Systems division, is an established safety systems market leader in the defence sector, acting as a single source supplier to government organisations.
The company’s main experience is in developing person mounted safety devices for pilots and naval deck crews. It also specialises in life support and personal survival equipment systems including oxygen systems for aviators and astronauts, crew restraints, flotation gear and crew and cargo release mechanisms.
