Personal life-saving appliances
Immersion suit
also: survival suit
A watertight suit that protects against hypothermia in cold water. On a cargo ship there is one for every person on board.
Key facts
- Limits the body’s heat loss in the water, which extends a survivor’s survival time.
- Unpacking and donning it unassisted, together with the associated clothing (and a lifejacket if one is to be worn), takes at most 2 minutes.
- Holds the mouth of an exhausted or unconscious person at least 120 mm above the water and lets the wearer turn from face down to face up in no more than 5 seconds.
- After a jump from at least 4.5 m, no excessive water may get inside.
- The heart of it is the thermal criterion: the suit must insulate so that after hours in cold water the body temperature drops by no more than 2 degrees. Whether the material itself insulates decides how long that limit applies.
- Wearing the suit, and a lifejacket if so designed, you climb up and down a vertical ladder at least 5 m long and perform normal abandon ship duties.
Thermal and performance requirements
- Suit of inherently insulating material
- after a jump from 4.5 m, body temperature drops no more than 2°C over 6 hours in calm circulating water of 0 to 2°C
- Suit without inherent insulation
- the same 2°C limit, but over 1 hour in water of 5°C, and the suit is marked that it must be worn with warm clothing
- Donning
- unassisted, with the associated clothing and lifejacket, in no more than 2 minutes
- Mouth above water
- at least 120 mm for an exhausted or unconscious person
- Turn onto the back
- from face down in no more than 5 seconds
- Ladder
- climb up and down a vertical ladder at least 5 m long
- Jump into the water
- from at least 4.5 m, without damage, without the suit coming off and without injury
Watch out
Not the same as the anti-exposure suit, which is built for working in a rescue boat; for that crew SOLAS accepts either suit.
Legal basis
SOLAS III/7 and III/32; LSA Code section 2.3 (thermal requirements: 2.3.2.1 and 2.3.2.2).
This is not a legal text: when in doubt, the current wording of the Convention and the LSA Code decides.