Survival suit
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A survival suit, or more specifically an immersion survival suit, is a special type of waterproof dry suit that protects the wearer from hypothermia from immersion in cold water, after abandoning a sinking or capsized vessel, especially in the open ocean. A survival suit's flotation and thermal protection is usually better than an immersion protection work suit, and typically extends a person's survival by several hours while waiting for rescue.
[edit] Usage
Unlike work suits, survival suits are not normally worn, and are stowed in an accessible location onboard the craft. The operator may be required to have one survival suit of the appropriate size onboard for each crew member, and other passengers. If a survival suit is not accessible from a crew member's work station and berth, then two accessible suits must be provided.
An adult survival suit is often a large bulky one-size-fits-all design meant to fit a wide range of sizes. It typically has large oversize booties and gloves built into the suit, which let the user quickly don it on while fully clothed, and without having to remove shoes. It typically has a waterproof zipper up the front, and a face flap to seal water out around the neck and protect the wearer from ocean spray.
The integral gloves may be a thin waterproof non-insulated type to give the user greater dexterity during donning and evacuation, with a second insulating outer glove tethered to the sleeves to be worn while immersed.
A ship's captain (or master) may be required to hold drills periodically to ensure that everyone can get to the survival suit storage quickly, and don the suit in the allotted amount of time. In the event of an emergency, it should be possible to put on a survival suit and abandon ship in about one minute.
[edit] Suit construction
Survival suits are normally constructed out of red or bright fluorescent orange or yellow fire-retardant neoprene, for high visibility on the open sea. The Neoprene material used is a synthetic rubber closed-cell foam, containing a multitude of tiny air bubbles making the suit sufficiently buoyant to also be a personal flotation device.
The seams of the neoprene suit are sewn and taped to seal out the cold ocean water, and the suit also has strips of SOLAS specified retroreflective tape on the arms, legs, and head to permit the wearer to be located at night from a rescue aircraft or ship.
[edit] Safety features
Survival suits can also be equipped with extra safety options such as:
- A whistle on a lanyard to permit the wearer to signal for help
- An emergency strobe light beacon with a water-activated battery
- An inflatable air bladder to lift the wearer's head up out of the water
- Tethered mittens to better insulate the hands
- An emergency radio locator beacon
- A "Buddy line" to attach to others' suits to keep the group together for rescue
[edit] Inflatable Survival Suits
The inflatable survival suit is a special type of survival suit, recently developed, which is similar in construction to an inflatable boat, but shaped to wrap around the arms and legs of the wearer. This type of suit is much more compact than a neoprene survival suit, and very easy to put on when deflated since it is just welded from plastic sheeting to form an air bladder.
Once the inflatable survival suit has been put on and zipped shut, the wearer activates firing handles on compressed carbon dioxide cartridges, which punctures the cartridges and rapidly inflates the suit. This results in a highly buoyant, rigid shape that also offers very high thermal retention properties.
However, like an inflatable boat, the inflatable survival suit loses all protection properties if it is punctured and the gas leaks out. For this reason, the suit may consist of two or more bladders, so that if one fails, a backup air bladder is available.
