Cobham Life Support presents Survivor+ at OTC 2014

Cobham Life Support has introduced Survivor+™, a new class of maritime safety system, at OTC 2014 (Booth #6713). Survivor+ Personal Overboard Survival System incorporates both a SOLAS-approved inflatable life jacket and a tethered personal life raft into a single compact vest.

Survivor+ is designed to significantly improve the chances of survival in man overboard situations, vessel abandonments and helicopter ditchings, when time spent in the water is directly linked to probability of survival. Drowning, hypothermia, exposure to sea spray and frigid winds are key safety issues that Survivor+ can help to overcome.

Survivor+ is a completely new class of PFD (Personal Flotation Device), which enables the MOB to remove themselves from the water and the elements in as little as 60 seconds. Because the Survivor+ system is lightweight it allows full body movement when working. Survivor+ is ideally suited for use on offshore support and crew transfer vessels, transport helicopters, workboats and merchant vessels.

Conceived as a complete solution for workers in the continued drive to improve offshore safety and prevent loss of life at sea, Survivor+ is certified to IMO (International Maritime Organization) A.520 (13) for Personal Life-Saving Appliances by Lloyd’s Register.

John Swain, CEO of Survival Systems Training, a world-leading Nova Scotia-based offshore cold water survival training facility, has tested Survivor+ and believes its unique approach to personal safety could reduce the number of deaths at sea in specific circumstances: “Studies and reports indicate that offshore workers and crew members are still going into the water and dying as a result of the three key risk factors; cold water shock, swimming failure and hypothermia. We train workers for all eventualities and teach that all survival equipment has a dedicated profile to how it should be used. I personally believe that Survivor+ can reduce fatalities under a number of different incident profiles.”

Don Blackman, Engineering Research Manager, Cobham Life Support said: “Survivor+ is designed to address the key risk factors during vessel evacuation, MOB incidents and helicopter ditchings, where the number of preventable deaths through drowning and hypothermia is unacceptable. In terms of the necessity to get out of the water and into a survivable environment on an individual basis, the development of Survivor+ is a significant breakthrough.”