Water safety watchdog issues warning for decades-old life jackets
Life preservers that use fibres from a seed pod to help them float are now well beyond their use-by dateThe Australian Maritime Safety Authority has issued a warning on older-style life jackets that use fibres sourced from a tree’s seed pod to help provide buoyancy.
AMSA said lifejackets with cotton straps filled with a cotton-like fluffy fibre called kapok were decades old and have not been manufactured since the 1980s. “However, an unknown number are still being used,” it said.
“Kapok is a cotton-like fluff that is no longer used in lifejacket manufacture because it naturally loses buoyancy over time and, if it gets wet, it will absorb water,” the advisory said.
“Furthermore, the cotton straps rot over time, even if the lifejacket is not used, and will tear or break off the lifejacket when weight comes on it.”
The advisory says that while the lifejackets would have complied with standards when they were made, these days they would have deteriorated to the point that they would fail.
“If one of these lifejackets has successfully been used in the past, it should still be replaced as soon as possible and destroyed, as it will have deteriorated and might not float now,” it said.
“Even if these lifejackets are in their original packaging, have never been used and look in perfect condition, replace them and destroy them.”
New Zealand made the call last year for its boaters to retire kapok-filled jackets. It even advised boat owners with kapok-filled life jackets that still looked new inside its packaging should still destroy them.
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