Spinlock's Deckvest transforms safety at UKSA

UKSA PRINCIPAL JON ELY relates how Deckvest has helped transform Personal Safety Training at UKSA, the world’s largest RYA Training Centre.

“UKSA were initially approached by Spinlock with an invitation for our yachting instructors to try out their new lifejacket harness. We were happy to help and before long all our cruising instructors were happily wearing the new lifejackets.

We soon extended this to all students at UKSA, replacing all existing lifejackets stowed onboard UKSA’s fleet. This solution was simple and radical, with the MCA giving special permission to remove all of the jackets currently onboard and replace them with new Deckvests issued to each individual crew member. For certain courses, every student was issued with a Deckvest and made responsible for checking it, wearing it on the water and then returning it in good condition on the last day.

This initiative is now in its third year and has worked even more successfully than we anticipated. All students now take ownership of their own safety under UKSA’s guidance from the first day of their course. They each learn the importance of wearing a properly fitted and fully-specified life jacket, as well as clipping on and caring for the equipment, far more quickly and effectively than when the equipment was issued onboard. Newly qualified students increasingly decide to buy Deckvest life jackets and safety lines from the UKSA shop at the end of their course.

UKSA has found this to be far simpler and more reliable than the previous arrangement for maintaining and servicing equipment stowed onboard. The Deckvest investment has been repaid many times over in time and cost savings.

UKSA now has a crew of instructors and students that are all equipped with the same high specification protection, and they look and feel like a team of professionals.

Because of this very successful experience and the resulting servicing and maintenance time savings at the world’s largest RYA training centre, UKSA supports the RYA 2010 initiative to make the Spinlock Deckvest available to their global instructor network.”