More freeboard for professional mariners
In order to increase the safety of mariners and sea going professionals, the International Maritime Organisation recently tightened its lifejacket regulations, thereby making the old SOLAS approval no longer valid.
The new more stringent regulations state, for example, that the nose and mouth of a casualty must be held further out of the water than before. Whereas the old regulations asked for a freeboard of 12cm (a standard average measurement taken via a standard test), the new regulations require an average 16cm to obtain certification. One company already in compliance is Germany’s Bernhardt Apparatebau, which now produces Secumar inflatable lifejackets that will meet the new mandatory regulations that come into effect by the middle of next year.
The new Golf and Delta series for professional mariners have been developed with these regulations in mind. The heart of the concept is the new Secumar patented swim bladder design that is cut and welded so that when inflated with carbon dioxide it forms wing shaped stabilisers round the neck and chest that are connected to the main chamber, thereby holding and supporting the casualty in a more upright and higher position above the water.
This innovative swim bladder system has been developed after decades of research into the physics of flotation by Secumar and now meets the IMO regulations of Germanischer Lloyd and also carries the Steering Wheel logo.
