Written by Ms. Jacqi Yurkovich, Coast Guard Lifesaving and Fire Safety Division
The UL Standards Technical Panel 1123 (STP) for Personal Flotation Devices held a task group meeting at Coast Guard Headquarters April 10-13, 2017, with key stakeholders from the U.S. and Canada, including the Coast Guard and Transport Canada.
The task group is drafting new bi-national standards for immersion suits and lifejackets for use on commercial vessels in the United States and Canada. During the week, participants drafted language for the standards, reached consensus on a number of critical issues, identified areas where more work needs to be done, and assembled sub-task groups to complete that work.
The Coast Guard is proud to participate in the development of these groundbreaking joint Canada-U.S. standards. Their development and eventual publication and adoption support the goal of facilitating innovation in the area of personal flotation devices and reducing trade barriers between the U.S. and Canada.
UL’s Standards Technical Panel is a consensus body made up of government, commercial, and private entities whose mission is to identify and develop safety standards for a wide variety of products and services. The Coast Guard is an active member and regularly provides input on matters related to mariner and boating safety.
The full PFD Standards Technical Panel is scheduled to meet at the end of May to discuss the task group’s progress and propose a timeline for completing the project.
For more information on this topic, visit the Coast Guard’s Lifesaving and Fire Safety Division, or email the staff at typeapproval@uscg.mil.
This blog is not a replacement or substitute for the formal posting of regulations and updates or existing processes for receiving formal feedback of the same. Links provided on this blog will direct the reader to official source documents, such as the Federal Register, Homeport and the Code of Federal Regulations. These documents remain the official source for regulatory information published by the Coast Guard.
