Lifejackets save lives

If you are going afloat for pleasure, working around water or fishing, wear your lifejacket or buoyancy aid. It’s useless unless worn.

Accidents can happen at any time in any weather. Good training and common sense help but several people’s lives could be saved every year if those involved wore a correctly-fitted, well-maintained lifejacket or buoyancy aid.

The water around the UK is cold all year round. It’s surprisingly difficult to get back on board your boat once you’re in the water and the cold water will affect how your body works. Wearing a lifejacket with crotch straps and sprayhood could double your chances of survival and increase your likelihood of being found.

When you fall into cold water, your blood pressure increases and you begin gasping for air. If you’re not wearing a lifejacket that lifts your airways out of the water, you can breathe in enough water to drown. If you do fall in, don’t attempt to swim unless you’re really close to your boat. Relax as much as you can and find something to hold onto if you can, while your body adapts and you regain control of your breathing. After this, you should be able to call for help or get back onboard as soon quickly. Your rescuers should find this easier if you are wearing a lifejacket.

You can download a report about why people don’t wear lifejackets here:Click here to see the research  [PDF 5.78MB

Every year a panel of experts meets to analyze the year’s fatal maritime incidents.  The panel makes a judgment about whether it is probable, possible or unlikely that the person involved could have been saved had they been wearing a lifejacket or buoyancy aid. Between 2007 and 10 the panel agreed that 86 lives might have been saved had those involved been wearing a lifejacket or buoyancy aid. And twenty-one people’s lives might have been saved last year. Download the results of the panel meeting here.[PDF]

These statistics tell us that commercial fishing, angling and sailing are the activities where most lives might be saved by buoyancy-wear.

To watch the MCA podcast aboutl lifejackets, click here.

If you would like to order stickers or publications that promote lifejacket wear, click here.

Have great trip, but enjoy it safely. Make sure that you wear a lifejacket or buoyancy aid as recommended by your sport’s national governing body. The MCA recommends that commercial fishermen wear a lifejacket or buoyancy aid at all times whilst on deck.

You might like to view this film to see what could happen if you don’t wear a lifejacket:

Watch the new MCA Lifejacket Video

Our partners

For more information on what to look for when buying a lifejacket, please visit the National Water Safety Forum website

Click here for more information on lifejackets from the RNLI

Click here for more information on lifejackets from the RYA