Our sister ship was just giiged by the Liberian inspector for not comlying with the new SOLAS 7.1.2.5 requirement for “PFD accessories” for folks over 140kg! New reg was effective last July.
The change doesn’t say how many of these you need (5%, 10%, just enough for those that need it). Anyone else run it to this? Are there any vendors out there selling SOLAS 7.1.2.5 compliant PFD’s?
Only newly replaced PFD’s need to have the lifting D Ring. Try Sterns for purchase, Shipmate 1
[QUOTE=Orniphobe;48830]Our sister ship was just giiged by the Liberian inspector for not comlying with the new SOLAS 7.1.2.5 requirement for “PFD accessories” for folks over 140kg! New reg was effective last July.
The change doesn’t say how many of these you need (5%, 10%, just enough for those that need it). Anyone else run it to this? Are there any vendors out there selling SOLAS 7.1.2.5 compliant PFD’s?[/QUOTE]
I have heard about it. I was talking with a DNV inspector about it in Singapore. Same thing, too. No specification to how many to have onboard, just needing to have some. We were not gigged on it, but I intend on ordering some to fulfill the requirement. I am going o shoot for 10% of the POB, just to have a baseline standard.
That’s 308lbs! You can probably aim lower than 10% of the crew 
[QUOTE=Jeffrox;48858]That’s 308lbs! You can probably aim lower than 10% of the crew :)[/QUOTE]
Yeah, you are probably right.
10% would be 20 for us. I’ll round down to 18 (three per boat) and hope they’re happy. I know passenger vessels have at least 10% children’s onboard. They have to be stowed separately. I’ll let purchasing go shopping for them.
Here’s some food for thought. If you do have a deckhand who is 308, when he has to use a ladder to climb up and maintain something (chip, paint, soogey) what ladder does he climb up on? Do you know the ‘class’ of ladder aboard? have you found out the weight limits of your ladders?
Since the safe working limits of commercial ladders are around 300 lbs, what happens when the ladder collapses? Who gets sued? Should the company get rid of obese employees? Should you make a note of, and report the dichotomy of the safe working load, to crewman weight dilemma to the office?
We did on my boat. They sent us a 12 ft ladder rated for 200 lbs. We all laughed and sent out back as there is only one of us able to climb up it. And that was with out paint or tools.