FLOWT

Rain Jacket With Modular PFD Lining For Commercial Fishermen

The project aims to create an Inflatable Personal Flotation Device (PFD) with enhanced ergonomics that encourages greater use in the commercial fishing industry. This solution must keep users upright in the water and follow the Federal Requirements for Commercial Fishing Industry Vessels.

Project Type

Product Design / Safety Garment / Wearable

Team

Lyla Nam, Eric Kim

Contribution

Product Design, Fabrication, Photography

Problem

Commercial fishing workers are constantly exposed to unpredictable weather and dangerous equipment, resulting in high fatality and casualty rates. In this dangerous and demanding working condition of commercial fishing, personal flotation devices (PFD) play a crucial role in preventing accidental fatalities. However, standard PFDs are bulky, heavy, and stiff, reducing mobility, comfort, and work efficiency. Such properties of standard PFDs lead to poor wear acceptance that overrides the life saving merit of PFD utilization under such an extreme environment.

PFD Use in Commercial Fisherman

>50

%

More than half of Dungeness crab fishermen never wear a PFD while working on deck or crossing a river bar (National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health 2015)

Lack of comfort

Primary factors for not wearing a PFD include lack of comfort, potential for gear entanglement, and interfering with movement (NIOSH 2015)

Social Stigma

A study of 72 commercial fishermen and lobstermen found many viewed wearing a PFD as embarrassing, seeing it as something only children or inexperienced crew wore, and its constant visibility made it socially stigmatizing (Weil, R., et al. 2015).

Fishermen Garment

Commercial fishermen often wear rain jackets for high winds and wild waves to keep themselves warm and dry.

Mobility and Abrasion Points

Observation of Dungeness Crabbers daily work routine.

Insight 1

Constant front torso contact work equipment

Insight 2

High mobility required around shoulder and lower waist

Design Goals

Comfort and Familiarity

Improve wear acceptance by enhanced ergonomics and familiarity that encourages greater use of PFD in the commercial fishing industry.

Safety and reliability

This solution must keep users upright in the water and follow the Federal Requirements for Commercial Fishing Industry Vessels.

Final Concept Sketch

Rain Jacket

Inflatable PFD

Slim profile with three selected key locations to ensure upright buoyancy

Connection method for attaching/detaching the PFD and openings for bladder inflation

+

Prototyping

Multiple iterations and prototypes were made with muslin mockups and polyurethane.

Fabrication

Final patterns of the jacket and the PFD were fabricated using sewing and heat-sealing techniques. If manufactured, bladder should be welded using ultrasonic welding.

Final Design

FLOWT is a rain jacket with a detachable inflatable PFD made for commercial fishermen. The low-profile PFD leaves the shoulders and lower waist free for high mobility. The CO2 inflation trigger is moved from its normal front position to the back to avoid damage and discomfort. The PFD snaps to the jacket with snap buttons and a reversible zipper, and can be worn on its own as well. Concealed under a familiar rain jacket, it reduces the urge to skip safety gear and protects the wearer’s reputation. By avoiding visible signs of inexperience or vulnerability, these features increase wear acceptance in the commercial fishing community.