A life jacket is a personal flotation device required for every person aboard a vessel, designed specifically to keep even an unconscious wearer floating face-up, protecting the airway from submersion.
Key Requirements
- One per person, plus spares — SOLAS requires enough life jackets for every person aboard, with additional spares carried for watchkeeping personnel and specific locations
- Reflective tape and whistle — standard fittings to aid detection and signaling if a person ends up in the water
- Light — many life jacket designs include an automatically activating light for visibility in darkness
- Marking — life jackets are typically marked with the ship’s name for identification
Accessibility Requirement
Life jackets must be readily accessible — stored in cabins and at muster stations where they can be reached and donned quickly during an emergency, not locked away or difficult to access under time pressure.
Immersion Suits vs Life Jackets
For vessels operating in cold water regions, immersion suits (providing thermal protection in addition to flotation) may be required in addition to or instead of standard life jackets for certain crew, given the serious risk of hypothermia in cold water even with adequate flotation.
Donning Drills
Crew are required to know how to correctly and quickly don a life jacket — practiced as part of regular safety drills, since correct fitting significantly affects the jacket’s actual effectiveness in an emergency.
Exam Relevance
Life jacket requirements, correct donning procedure, and related SOLAS lifesaving appliance regulations are core Safety topics in deck and engine officer competency exams.