Life Jacket Awarness - Zippit
Wearing a life jacket, or personal flotation device (PFD), is one of the most important safety choices you can make on the water. A properly fitted life jacket keeps you afloat and can mean the difference between life and death in an unexpected fall overboard. With several types of life jackets available, you can easily find one that’s both comfortable and convenient to wear.
Tips For Selecting a Life Jacket
When shopping for a life jacket, consider what boating activities you’ll be taking part in and where you’ll be boating. Will you be boating near shore or offshore? Riding a personal watercraft? Waterskiing? Tubing? Wakeboarding? The new user-friendly life jacket labels that are being phased in make it easier to choose a life jacket that matches your swim skills, boating activity and other factors.
Check the label on the inside of the life jacket to find the U.S. Coast Guard approval number, which indicates the life jacket has been tested for performance. This approval number is on old and new life jacket labels.
The life jacket label will provide size information related to weight and chest size. The best way to make sure your life jacket fits snugly is to try it on. Make sure you fasten all straps, buckles and zippers to ensure a secure fit.
NOTE: Don’t worry if your current life jacket does not have the new label; you can still use it if it’s in good condition and appropriate for the activity.
The new label features a performance level icon and number. Lifejackets with a lower-level number offer more mobility, comfort, and style with good flotation and are intended for near shore (calm water) activities.
A higher-level number lifejacket offers greater flotation, stability in the water, and ability to turn a wearer face up. These life jackets are more appropriate for offshore activities where rescue times could take longer.
Warnings icons on the new label indicate activities the life jacket in question is not designed for, such waterskiing or operating a personal watercraft.
The turning ability icon provides information about whether the life jacket in question is capable or designed to turn an unconscious person face up.
Life Jacket Regulations Reminder
All vessels are required to have onboard a wearable U.S. Coast Guard-approved PFD or life jacket for each person on board. The PFD’S or life jackets must be:
- The appropriate size for the intended wearer
- Readily accessible
- In serviceable condition
South Carolina law requires all children under 12 years of age to wear a USCG-approved PFD while on board a vessel less than 16 feet long. Must be proper size for the child and fastened.
Anyone operating, riding on, or being towed behind a personal watercraft (jet-ski) must wear an approved life jacket or PFD. Inflatable PFDs are prohibited for personal watercraft use.
No one may water ski or use another aquaplaning device unless they are wearing a USCG-approved life jacket or PFD. Inflatable PFDs are prohibited for skiing/aquaplaning.
Readily accessible means you must be able to put the PFD on in a reasonable amount of time in an emergency (vessel sinking, on fire etc.) PFD’s should never be stowed in plastic bags or locked in closed compartments.
Why It’s Important to Wear a Life Jacket
- A majority of boating fatalities are caused by people falling overboard and drowning and 80 percent of drowning victims were not wearing a life jacket. Drownings are rare when boaters are wearing an appropriate life jacket.
- Statistics show over half of boating fatality victims were reported as being able to swim. Even the strongest swimmers may be unprepared and unable to respond to a fall overboard.
- Being an experienced boater is not a reliable predictor of surviving a fall overboard.
Fact: Wearing a life jacket can save your life.