Irish Coast Guard suspend operations

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Ohlin Karcher

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Irish coastguards have suspended operations involving ILB's RIBs etc because of safety concerns over their issued life jackets.
I can't post a link maybe someone can?
L/J's are Rescue 400 type 275N, which have failed to inflate allegedly.
 
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At least not so many leisure boats out this time of year but still an awful lot of fishing and other commerciall vessels at sea.
 
LittleSister said:
Is 'Rescue 400' a brand, or a type of lifejacket?

If a brand, why not just fit them out with another brand?

If a type, presumably they'll be out of action for a long time while other types are considered and approved.
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If what the RNLI (or SNSM or ....) are not affected, why not get a batch of them? Presumably they are all approved at some (European?) level.
 
Don't suppose you can just place an order for 100 RNLI lifejackets and receive them next day.

RNLI use inshore 380n I think.

These are 275s so you would need to let people experience them differently.

Depending what the actual issue is you may need to get the alternative and test it .. before you order 100...
 
The Irish Coast Guard has suspended all search and rescue boat operations with immediate effect because of concerns over the safety of volunteer's lifejackets.
 
Anakron said:
The Irish Coast Guard has suspended all search and rescue boat operations with immediate effect because of concerns over the safety of volunteer's lifejackets.
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Apart from the fact that it's Ireland, is anyone else surprised that it should take 3 years to discuss (and not resolve) a safety issue with lifejackets?
 
Don’t know Ireland.
Despite a recommendation from TSB. It took Transport Canada almost 4 years to approve any inflatable life jackets. The hold up was they couldn’t agree on the approved colour of orange.
Eventually TC determined to use the same orange approved by USCG.
 
Uricanejack said:
Don’t know Ireland.
Despite a recommendation from TSB. It took Transport Canada almost 4 years to approve any inflatable life jackets. The hold up was they couldn’t agree on the approved colour of orange.
Eventually TC determined to use the same orange approved by USCG.
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Sounds like ' The Hitchhikers' Guild To The Galaxy ' after all the useless types have been exiled to another planet but manage to invent the wheel - " Well if you're so clever, you explain what colour it should be ! "
 
Seajet said:
Sounds like ' The Hitchhikers' Guild To The Galaxy ' after all the useless types have been exiled to another planet but manage to invent the wheel - " Well if you're so clever, you explain what colour it should be ! "
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Yes it does. I doubt there is much difference in government process. The approval process was frustratingly long. Often made no sense. Particularly since suitable equipment existed and was in regular use.
Now the approved one are about 3 times the price of. Almost identical ones which are not approved.
The trouble with things like safety equipment it has to be approved to be used. So finding other approved lifejackets in sufficient quantities might not be easy.
I noticed the article also referred to complaints about helmets. We were not able to source a truly fit for purpose approved helmet for use in RIBs. We used non approved recreational white water rafting helmets. With a waiver from health and safety. We got new ones this year, I believe they are actually approved as hard hats.

One thing I do agree with.
You can’t send crew out with PPE which has been shown not to work. Though it’s not clear in the articles why. The article implies, the manual inflation toggle is a problem.
We use auto inflate. Mustang, not aware of any issues. Which doesn’t mean there aren’t any.
 
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You can’t send crew out with PPE which has been shown not to work.
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Yes, you can, no equipment is perfect.

All .. no I really do mean that ALL equipment has a failure rate. Every. Single. Item of PPE will have a defect rate that causes it to malfunction. It could be that the rate of malfunction of this particular jacket is greater than can be accepted, but it will of course not be zero, it never is.

You have to remember the aim here is to reduce the overall number of deaths ... if by staying ashore 1 rescuer is saved from a watery grave ... but 2 sailors drown who would otherwise have been saved, the decision was incorrect, as you now have 2 deaths not one.
 
Tomahawk said:
The lifeboat crews PPE only needs to work if the lifeboat also gets into trouble..
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That should read “The lifeboat crew PPE only needs to work if a crew member gets into trouble”. It is not at all necessary for the whole boat and crew to be in trouble for an individual crew member to need his or her PPE: indeed, it is much more likely that a single person will encounter circumstance needing PPE than a whole crew. Therefore it is foolish say to the least to proceed to sea without adequate PPE. And that applies whether it’s a SAR crew or an individual sailor.
 
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