§ Mr. HoyleTo ask the Secretary of State for Transport (1) whether life-jackets carried on helicopters and aircraft operating over the North sea are required to meet the criteria described in specification No. 5, issue 2, dated 23 November 1979 issued by the airworthiness division of the Civil Aviation Authority; if he will define the use of the term "choppy sea" and the term "disturbed water" contained in paragraph 7.1 of the specification document, according to wave height; and whether this specification has been superseded;
(2) if he will be reconsidering the specifications relating to life-jackets in the near future; and if he will make it his policy to seek to ensure that legislation requires life-jackets to keep the wearer's head clear of the water even if the wearer is unconscious and the water is rough or choppy.
§ Mr. David MitchellThe Department of Transport is responsible for the approval of life-jackets carried in United Kingdom registered ships and the Civil Aviation Authority is responsible for the approval of life-jackets carried in aircraft.
The specifications for Department of Transport or CAA approved life-jackets have both for many years required the support of an unconscious person in a seaway in an effective manner. Experience to date has not suggested that their performance was in question. However, the findings of a recent research project commissioned by the Department of Energy suggest that in certain rough sea conditions these life-jackets may not be as effective as previously thought.
My Department therefore intends to give very serious consideration to the findings of this particular research. project to determine whether changes to the specifications for ship life-jackets are now necessary.
The Civil Aviation Authority has confirmed that aircraft life-jackets are required to meet the criteria described in CAA specification No. 5, issue 2, which has not been superseded. The terms "choppy sea" and 217W "disturbed water" in the specification are intended to mean sea state 3, which is consistent with wave heights of 3 to 5 ft and a mean wind speed of 18 knots.
The authority believes that the specification No. 5 requirements are adequate and life-jackets approved to this standard are satisfactory. The need to ensure compatibility with intended immersion suits is catered for in working draft CAA specification No. 19, issue 1 (dated March 1988) para. 31. Any immersion suit approved by the CAA must be fully evaluated for its compatibility with the intended life-jacket; righting tests being performed by live but limp subjects. Such tests may be more representative of an unconscious person than those achieved using authometric dummies, but the CAA has initiated a review of the various test methods currently used to establish which of these is the most realistic.