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NavalDonning lifejackets and immersion suits
The going gets very rough, the vessel is about to cross a hazardous bar or the master gives the order. You go to where the suits are kept, take yours and put it on following the illustrated instructions posted on board, and at your station everyone is checked before being directed on. Donning immersion suits and other wearable flotation devices is one of the contingencies every crew drills each month.
Free to startScenarios
- The monthly drill, run on board as if it were a real emergency.
- Very rough going, or about to cross a hazardous bar.
- Cold waters, where an immersion suit or exposure suit is required for each person.
The steps
- Put on lifejackets and immersion suits when the going becomes very rough, before crossing a hazardous bar or when the master or person in charge says so.
- Go to the location of the suits given in the emergency instructions.
- Take the one of the proper size for you.
- Put it on following the illustrated donning instructions posted on board.
- At the muster, see that everyone is properly dressed and has put on a lifejacket or immersion suit.
- Assemble everyone and direct them to their appointed stations.
To pass
- Everyone properly dressed and in a lifejacket or immersion suit, correctly donned, before going to their stations.
- Seaward of the Boundary Line north of 32° N or south of 32° S on documented vessels, in West Coast coastal waters north of Point Reyes, California, beyond coastal waters in cold water and on Lake Superior, each person has an immersion suit or exposure suit.
- Suits and lifejackets are inspected, cleaned and repaired as necessary every month; inflatable Type V commercial hybrid lifejackets are serviced every year.
- The monthly drill includes donning immersion suits, if the vessel has them; on inspected vessels, the crew wears them in at least one abandon-ship drill every 3 months, or is instructed on donning and use when warm weather makes wearing them impracticable.
Official source
U.S. Coast Guard · 46 CFR 28.110, 28.265, 28.270 and 199.180
46 CFR Part 28: Requirements for Commercial Fishing Industry Vessels (28.265 Emergency instructions, 28.270 Instruction, drills, and safety orientation)
The eCFR publishes 46 CFR Part 28 free: the emergency instructions every commercial fishing vessel posts, its lifesaving equipment and the monthly drills.
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