Personal Flotation Devices

Spring 2007

This is an article from WaveLength Magazine, available in print in North America and globally on the web.
To download a pdf copy of the magazine click here: > DOWNLOAD

There's Still Something You Need to Know

by Carol-Ann Giroday

Any boaters traveling with children up to age three would be well advised to listen and heed this warning. Last summer I observed two young families with their motor yachts tied to a yacht club dock after a day of cruising. While the parents enjoyed happy hour and lively conversation on the stern of one of the boats, two small children with minnow nets in hand, hung over the bulwarks hoping to catch some supper. One of the children was not much over one year old judging by the wide stance of her legs and wobbly gait as she toddled down the dock after her older sister. The older child looked to be about four years old. Together, they walked up and down the fingers of the docks, hanging over the side whenever they saw something noteworthy in the water. I had to fight the urge to go over to the parents in their deck chairs and educate them about the perils of believing that if your children are wearing PFDs, they are safe.

Many years ago I was a lifeguard at a public swimming pool. One of my responsibilities was teaching a “Water Babies” swimming class. This class was for mothers with babies from six months to three years old. As part of all Life Saving classes, the use of PFDs is taught at every age level from infant to adult.

One of the lessons that many of the parents found most remarkable was the one explaining how and when PFDs work and don’t work for young children. The wide-neck collar to support and keep a child’s head out of the water only works if the child is in the water on his/her back. However, if the child were to fall into the water face first, this very buoyancy at the back of the neck is what could drown the child!

The flotation is more powerful than the capacity of very young children to lift their faces out of the water, and if not properly trained, they are unable to flip themselves over to rest comfortably and safely on their backs. Small babies also lack the strength in their necks to keep their faces out of the water for long periods of time.

Younger children are typically more top heavy than older children, their heads being the biggest part of them. If their feet come out from under them, even in water that may only be waist deep for them, they are hard pressed to get their feet back underneath themselves, get their faces out of the water, and stand up again. The flotation in most PFDs works beautifully when children are lying on their backs, but fails miserably if they are not able to wriggle themselves around from a face first position with the buoyancy of the vest working against them.

As a lifeguard/instructor, I demonstrated this to a group of mothers and babies in the shallow end of the pool as part of a Water Babies swimming lesson. One of the mothers in the class had been bringing her baby to swim since she was six months old. The child was now eighteen months old. She could go underwater and swim happily from her mother to another adult close by, exhaling her air and returning to the surface with a big grin on her face. She happily slid down the kiddies’ slide, plunked into the water and paddled her way back to the edge, climbed out and was ready for another go. This kid was very comfortable in the water!

With her mother’s permission, I used this child to demonstrate the effect of a PFD on a child who falls into the water face first. We suited her up in a PFD; all the buckles were done up right, the through-the-legs strap fastened, and the large neck collar support suited to her size and weight as the specifications indicated.

This child had not had a PFD on before this demonstration. We placed her on her back and let her get used to the feel of it, all the while her mother looking into her face and smiling her encouragement. The baby smiled back and kicked her feet and flapped her arms around playfully. I then asked the mother to turn her baby over onto her tummy and let her float freely in that position. As predicted, the child had her face in the water and was not in a position to get her nose out of the water and breathe. She was able for short periods of time to lift her head, but the neck collar was working against her. This little girl did not struggle initially because she was comfortable with her face in the water. We soon flipped her over onto her back, and all the mothers watching the demonstration were silent while clutching their children close to them. Without assistance from us, this child would most likely have drowned. We spent the rest of the lesson teaching the babies that were old enough and strong enough, how to flip themselves over while wearing a PFD. As you can imagine, only the larger, older children were able to accomplish this with little assistance.

While searching for a PFD that would support young children in the water in a face up position, I found the Salus Marine Wear “Bijoux” PFD. It is advertised as one that will “turn your baby (9 to 25 lbs.) face up from a face forward position, while a 3-piece collar cradles the head when floating.”

This innovative design won an award from the Canadian Safe Boating Association (CASBA) for a product improving boating safety.
The Bijoux PFD is not yet Transport Canada approved, but there are no current standards against which to evaluate it. Transport Canada has issued a statement concerning the Bijoux PFD. “Having an infant onboard a vessel wearing a Bijoux PFD and not having another flotation device aboard is not illegal. If an infant must go onboard a small vessel, having the infant wearing a comfortable and effective PFD is the logical and appropriate decision.”

When asked to respond to this article, Rob McMahon, from Mustang Survival, agrees that a PFD is an important part of child water safety but can never take the place of adult supervision. He stated, “Should a child’s PFD not be self-righting, he or she may end up face down in the water.” Mr. McMahon went on to say that “even young children can be taught to roll themselves over.” He encourages parents to (1) take their children to the Canadian Red Cross Aqua Tots or other community pool programs to learn this skill and (2) refer to Boat Smart Canada! for information on making the right choices when choosing a PFD for children.

Steve Wagner, President of Salus Marine Wear responded saying, “After years of hearing much frustration from the boating public about the need for a baby-sized vest, we finally decided to design such a vest (even if without the standard and approval). The Bijoux Baby Flotation Device has a solid one-piece front that ensures the baby will turn face up from a face-forward position.”

In a telephone conversation with Stearns, a leading manufacturer of PFDs in the United States, their production manager confirmed they do not manufacture a PFD that will turn small children over onto their backs if they were to fall in the water face first. The manager went on to qualify her statement saying that their “Heads Up” product line for children under thirty pounds is US Coast Guard approved under a Type II category. This category defines the flotation device as one that “will sometimes turn an unconscious person face up.” A Type II PFD is for “near shore use.”

This information isn’t meant to frighten anyone. The intent is to educate parents to a critical piece of information that could save their children’s lives. Of course, your child is much safer with a PFD on than not. What needs to be clearly understood is that although children may be wearing a PFD, they still need to be closely supervised, particularly if they are not comfortable in the water and are under three years old.

Visit www.salusmarine.com for more information about the Bijoux.

Carol-Ann Giroday and her husband, Rick LeBlanc, live aboard their 40 foot TransPac Eagle pilot house, the “MV Sea Foam” in the Fraser River at Mission, BC. They love to explore by land, sea and under the sea with hiking, kayaking and scuba diving. They have been boating in the Pacific Northwest for the past fifteen years. To learn more about their adventures and to read about their trips, visit their website at www.writefromthesea.com