Inflatable Personal Flotation Device Study

摘要

The purpose of this study was to help determine whether the Coast Guard should pursue the development of an approval specification for inflatable PFDs (life jackets). To ascertain the suitability of the inflatable PFD as a lifesaving device, an in-use study was conducted utilizing the Coast Guard Auxiliary. Approximately 550 inflatable PFDs of various diverse configurations and means of inflation were distributed to Auxiliarist volunteers throughout the country at the beginning of the 1979 summer boating season. The Auxiliary participants used the inflatable PFDs as they did their inherently buoyant devices for the summer. Three questionnaires were distributed to them at the beginning, middle and end of the boating season. The Auxiliarists returned their PFDs at the end of the summer for examination. Results obtained from the analysis of the questionnaires and returned inflatable PFDs show that: (1) respondents would wear four inflatable models 'slightly' to 'moderately' more than they would their inherently buoyant devices: (2) only one of these four models received a favorable response to more than one of the questions measuring 'trust'; (3) the 'non-operable' response rate for all inflatables was between 12.5% and 20.1%; and (4) 28% of the respondents had problems servicing their inflatables. (Author)