Safety Floats your Boat
Rainer Curcio

Rainer Curcio
Posted on 03 May, 2019

Safety Floats your Boat

Tasmanians need to be more mindful when boating and to put safety first, says Marine and Safety Tasmania (MAST).

Ian Ross from MAST says that wearing lifejackets isn’t the problem, 92% of Tasmanian boaties wear their lifejackets.

Mr Ross says failure to regularly service the jackets is a cause for concern.

Self-inflating lifejackets should be serviced every two years. The service is relatively inexpensive at about $40 — a small price to pay for peace of mind.

“We know that last year about 3500 [jackets] were serviced.” Mr Ross said.

Mr Ross said that this figure should be closer to 40,000.

A sense of complacency and an attitude of ‘it won’t happen to me,’ contributes to the lack of regular lifejacket servicing.

Mr Ross expresses the importance of identifying “dodgy old boats that aren’t seaworthy” as a key to marine safety. Boaters should inspect their vessels for leaks and rot and keep safety in mind before taking to the water.

“Make sure you check the weather before you go, make sure you have your inflatable life jacket serviced, check all your safety equipment” said Mr Ross.

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