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LJ 5 Establish National Minimum Educational Standards for Life Jacket Fit and Usage

Key area

Life Jackets

Develop and implement national minimum educational standards for teaching life jacket fit, type, style, when to wear, and demonstrations to include practice fitting and use for both boating and non-boating water recreation.

Spectrum level: Changing Organizational Practices Influencing Policy and Legislation

Evidence level: Medium

Implementation levels: National

Rationale:

When people are exposed to education and skill-building around life jackets there may be a shift in awareness towards the normalization of life jacket use. Additionally, education efforts may increase the proper use of life jackets in both boating and non-boating water recreation.

Development of national minimum educational standards increases the likelihood of consistency of educational messaging across the country.

Anticipated Impact:

After implementing this recommendation, you can expect to experience the following outcomes.

  • Life jacket education and skill building leads to a shift in awareness toward normalization of life jacket use.
  • Life jacket education and skill building enhances the proper use of life jackets in both boating and non-boating water recreation.

Evidence:

Life jackets are promoted as an essential part of water competence, and life jacket competence, with practice, should be incorporated into programs that focus on swim and survival skill training. Therefore, it is important for programs to provide instruction and practice on the proper fit and wear of life jackets, as well as donning life jackets and practicing all skills as part of water competence wearing a life jacket.

Practicing skills with a life jacket has been found to dramatically change participants' perceptions of risks and benefits. Water safety experts recommend that life jacket competence should be taught with other water survival skills, and that training should include a practice component.

Success has been attributed to education interventions that are:

  • Specific in their content and targeted in their reach
  • Delivered in settings appropriate to the target age groups
  • Tailored to the specific devices provided

Increasing life jacket wear requires consistent messaging. Educators in safety, lifesaving, and swimming increasingly agree that promoting the use of life jackets in non-boating related activities is needed. There is evidence that children and youth are more likely to wear a life jacket if an adult in the boat is wearing one. The vast majority of canoers and kayakers receive no formal or informal instruction. Water safety experts interviewed stakeholders who identified concerns with inconsistent information on life jackets, the importance of demonstrations of appropriate wear, and opportunities to practice life jacket use. There is evidence that parents finding comfort in choosing and fitting a life jacket contributed to a significant increase in the use of life jackets among children.

Evidence Sources:

Bandura A. (1986). Social foundations of thought and action: A social cognitive theory. Prentice-Hall.

Stallman R.K., Moran K., Quan L., & Langendorfer S. (2017). From swimming skill to water competence: Towards a more inclusive drowning prevention future. International Journal of Aquatic Research and Education, 10(2) Article 3. https://doi.org/10.25035/ijare.10.02.03

Moran K. (2019) Can you float? Part 2 - Perceptions and practice of lifejacket use among young adults. International Journal of Aquatic Research and Education, 11(3) Article 4. https://doi.org/10.25035/ijare.11.03.04

Cox K.L., Bhaumik S., Gupta M., & Jagnoor J. (2022). Facilitators and barriers of life jacket use for drowning prevention: Qualitative evidence synthesis. Journal of Safety Research, Feb(80), 135-147. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jsr.2021.11.010

Mangione T. (ed). (2021). Summary of suggestions for increasing life jacket use. Unpublished survey notes from online survey conducted with persons indicating interest in life jackets via https://www.watersafetyusa.org/nwsap.html.

World Health Organization. (2017). Preventing drowning: an implementation guide. https://www.who.int/publications/i/item/preventing-drowning-an-implementation-guide

Bennett E., Cummings P., Quan L., & Lewis F.M. (1999). Evaluation of a drowning prevention campaign in King County, Washington. Injury Prevention, 5,109-113. http://dx.doi.org/10.1136/ip.5.2.109

Wallis B.A., Watt K., Franklin R.C., Taylor M., Nixon J.W., & Kimble R.M. (2015). Interventions associated with drowning prevention in children and adolescents: systematic literature review. Injury Prevention, 21(3), 195-204. https://doi.org/10.1136/injuryprev-2014-041216

Ramos W., Beale A., Chambers P., Dalke S., Fielding R., Kublick L., Langendorfer S., Lees T., Quan L., & Wernicki P. (2015). Primary and secondary downing interventions: The American Red Cross circle of drowning prevention and chain of drowning survival. International Journal of Aquatic Research and Education, 9(1), 89-101. https://doi.org/10.25035/ijare.09.01.08

Quan L. (2014). Personal flotation devices. In J. Bierens (Ed), Drowning Prevention, Rescue, Treatment (2nd ed, pp. 225-229). Springer-Verlag. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-04253-9_33

Quan L, & Gilchrist J. (2022). The epidemiology and prevention of drowning. Boulton M.L., & Wallace R.B.(Eds.), Maxcy-Rosenau-Last Public Health & Preventive Medicine (16th ed.). McGraw Hill. https://accessmedicine.mhmedical.com/content.aspx?bookid=3078&sectionid=257531213

Quan L., Bennett E., Cummings P., Trusty M.N., & Treser C.D. (1998). Are life vests worn? A multiregional observational study of personal flotation device use in small boats. Injury Prevention, 4, 203-205. http://dx.doi.org/10.1136/ip.4.3.203

Stempski S., Schiff M., Bennett E., & Quan L. (2014). A case-control study of boat-related injuries and fatalities in Washington state. Injury Prevention, 20(4), 232-237. https://www.doi.org/10.1136/injuryprev-2013-041022

McKnight J.A., Becker W.W., Pettit A.J., & McKnight S.A. (2007). Human error in recreational boating. Accident Analysis and Prevention, 39, 398-405. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.aap.2006.09.004

Moran K., Quan L., Franklin R., & Bennett E. (2011). Where the evidence and expert opinion meet: A review of open water recreational safety messages. International Journal of Aquatic Research and Education, 5(3), 251-270. https://doi.org/10.25035/ijare.05.03.05

Outdoor Foundation. (2019). Special report on paddlesports and safety. https://americancanoe.org/wp-content/uploads/documents/sei-educationalresources/2019specialreporton_paddl.pdf

High Risk Populations Addressed:

Populations whose risk of drowning decreases the most with the implementation of this recommendation may have one or more of the following characteristics.

  • Children
  • Adults
  • Non-Swimmers
  • Individuals recreating in the water
  • Children whose parents don’t know how to swim
  • Individuals who primarily speak a language other than English
  • Individuals who are not exposed to water safety education elsewhere

Evaluation Metrics:

Indicators of long-term impact:

  • Increase in wear rates among all age groups, in both boating and non-boating environments
  • Decrease in drownings in both boating and non-boating environments

Indicators of intermediate impact:

  • Development of an accredited national education standard for choosing, fitting, and using a life jacket
  • Recognition and adoption of an accredited national education standard by national organizations (i.e. Safe Kids Worldwide, YMCA, American Red Cross, and organizations that are part of the National Association of State Boating Law Administrators (NASBLA) Education Standards Panel, BoatUS Foundation, and America’s Boating Club)

Indicators of initial impact:

  • Agreement to a standard for choosing, fitting, and using a life jacket for both boating and non-boating water recreation by the American National Standards Institute of the NASBLA
  • Increase in the number of courses taught
  • Increase in the number of students reached
  • Locations across the United States and territories implementing the standard.

Implementation:

Consider the following to ensure successful implementation:

  • Integration of national minimum educational standards on life jacket use into broader educational standards around water safety educational curriculums will likely increase uptake

In developing national minimum educational standards on life jacket use consider the following: - Use the NASBLA approval process to be recognized for the state required boating credentials, for any education group, or individual, teaching a NASBLA boating safety education course (all states except 5 require an operator to complete a NASBLA approved course). - Consider NASBLA as a potential leader in the development of standards for education in open water safety for children, which may aid in national implementation efforts. - Consider NASBLA as a potential leader in development, partnering with American Red Cross, YMCA, Safe Kids, and others, to ensure the accredited national standard can apply in both boating and open water recreation environments. - Coordinate with American National Standards Institute (ANSI) and International Organization for Standardization (ISO) Standard 12402. - Consider the British Standard 1318, which goes beyond boating and could be used to develop an American standard. - Balance the need to focus on supervision, swim competency, barriers, and other layers of protection along with life jackets. - Reference evaluated life jacket education programs such as "Kids Don’t Float" or mandatory boating education courses. - Include guidelines for boating and non-boating activities in the accredited national education standard for life jackets. - Include content like life jacket types and their specific uses.
- Include recommendations about including life jackets in learn-to-swim, water safety, and water competence K-12 school curriculums and programs - Consider both dry land and in-water curriculum options. - Emphasize that life jackets do not replace the need for supervision. - Recommend that learn-to-swim curriculums that students practice controlling buoyancy both with and without flotation aids, allowing children who have only been in the water with puddle jumpers to feel the effects of the water without one.
- Emphasize the importance and value of dry-land instruction when in-water instruction is unavailable. - Consider the YMCA and American Red Cross curriculums, which have lesson plans about life jackets. - Realize that aquatic centers may not have appropriate life jackets for training and practice.
- Consider programs like Kids Don’t Float in Alaska, based on best practices for teaching about life jackets in classroom and in-water settings. - Overcome perceptions that life jacket education can only be taught in water. - Include the demonstration and practice of using life jackets in learn-to-swim programs, this is an important water safety skill. - Enforce and encourage more widespread use of life jacket education within swim lessons. - Adjust the current language of, and stance on, life jacket use found in the American Academy of Pediatrics swimming recommendations.

Challenges to Implementation:

When implementing this recommendation, you might encounter challenges related to the following factors.

  • Messaging around floatation devices vs U.S. Coast Guard (USCG) approved life jackets may be challenging to convey effectively.
  • Language around some floatation devices (for example puddlejumpers) is not standardized, and they are sometimes used inappropriately as instructional devices, and, or, perceived that they lessen the need for supervision (which is incorrect).
  • Education alone will not be effective, there needs to be mandatory wear requirements for life jackets.
  • There may be a lack of a lead agency for life jacket education in both boating and non-boating environments.

Potential Facilitators:

The following factors might facilitate the implementation of this recommendation.

  • Explore innovative opportunities for education. For example, Texas standardly includes a water, and, or a boating safety module as part of driver’s education courses.
  • Build off of national programs that already include a life jacket component such as the "Kids Don’t Float" program in Alaska, which includes an education program for elementary students, an ambassador program for high schoolers to teach youth and engage the community as youth leaders, and a training program for local partners such as caregivers, camp counselors, paddling instructors, etc.
  • Local and state drowning prevention task forces like the National Drowning Prevention Alliance (NDPA), America's Boating Club, and USCG Auxiliary may be supportive.

GAP Recommendation:

Teaching life jacket use has not been evaluated for its effectiveness in conveying knowledge, skills and behaviors. There is a need to evaluate the efficacy of a national education standard to teach proper life jacket fitting, wearing, knowledge of when to wear it, and attitudes and behaviors subsequent to the course. Furthermore, long term retention of these skills needs evaluation too to determine appropriate intervals for retraining/refreshing/reinforcing use.