Edition 39, October 2006

Batting for personal flotation devices

Sporting icon Matthew Hayden has swung his weight behind the National Marine Safety Committee's summer boating safety campaign to encourage the use of personal flotation devices.

Hayden knows first hand what failure to wear personal flotation devices can mean.

'It all happened so bloody quickly,' the opening batsman says, recounting the day he and his mates nearly died when their boat capsized off the Queensland coast. The trio battled currents and crashing waves and suffered shock and exhaustion during their hour-long swim to shore.

According to the National Marine Safety Committee's incident database, 41 people died in Australian waters during boating incidents last year.

Personal floatation devices are recognised as a key safety feature in recreational boating. A National Marine Safety Committee study showed that those who survive boating incidents are more than twice as likely to have been wearing a personal flotation device as those who perished.

The National Marine Safety Committee has released a discussion paper to provide background information and promote debate and feedback on the use of personal flotation devices. The committee is encouraging anyone involved in recreational boating to provide comment on the paper.

Feedback is being sought on the circumstances in which it should be compulsory to wear personal flotation devices. Feedback will be used to develop a consistent national approach to the wearing of personal flotation devices.

Comment on the discussion paper can be made until 30 November 2006.

For more information contact Natalie Shymko, National Marine Safety Committee, on 02 3247 2124, secretariat@nmsc.gov.au or visit www.nmsc.gov.au to download a copy of the discussion paper.

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