Immersion suits should be of appropriate size for crew

Recent reports by US Coast Guard officers have found immersion suits onboard ships to be of an inappropriate size for the crews wearing them, ClassNK informed. 

The International Convention for the Safety of Life at Sea (SOLAS) Reg. III/7.3 defines that: “An immersion suit, complying with the requirements of section 2.3 of the Code or an anti-exposure suit complying with section 2.4 of the Code, of an appropriate size, shall be provided for every person assigned to crew the rescue boat or assigned to the marine evacuation system party.”

In cases where the manufacturers have specified the size ranges for wearers of immersion suits (e.g. max/min height and/or chest seize of wearers), ClassNK urges operators to confirm once again whether the physical constitution of the crew meets the size ranges of the immersion suits onboard or not.