Start hereRules checked 20 October 2026
A lifejacket is the one piece of life-saving equipment every person on board is given. It has to work for someone who has never worn one, in the dark, after a jump from the deck, and keep an unconscious person’s mouth out of the water. Since 2010 the IMO standard has been tested against a reference lifejacket on real volunteers, and it covers infants, children and people up to 140 kg.
Lifejackets are also one of the commonest small findings in surveys and port state control (PSC) inspections: a missing child lifejacket that is listed on the ship’s Record of Equipment, a light with an expired battery, a stowage box without its symbol. None of these are hard to fix, which is why inspectors treat them as a sign of how well the monthly inspection is done.
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In this lesson
- Who deals with it, and when?
- In plain words
- In detail
- What the rules say
- Flag and class notes
- Key numbers
- What inspectors find
- Quiz: 5 questions
Try it
Who deals with it, and when?
In plain words
Every person on board has a lifejacket, and there are spares where people work on watch and at survival craft stations that are far from the cabins. Passenger ships also carry child and infant sizes. A lifejacket must be bright orange, carry a whistle and a light, and turn a person face up in the water.
Some lifejackets are solid foam. Others are inflatable: they look like a collar until they hit the water, when a gas cylinder fills them. Inflatable lifejackets go ashore once a year to an approved station to be tested, just like liferafts.
The crew look at all lifejackets once a month. The lights have batteries with a date on them; when the date passes, the battery or light is replaced.
In detail
How many, and where
SOLAS regulation III/7.2 sets the numbers:12
- a lifejacket for every person on board;
- on passenger ships, child lifejackets for at least 10% of passengers, or more if needed to give one to each child;
- on passenger ships on voyages of less than 24 hours, infant lifejackets for at least 2.5% of passengers; on voyages of 24 hours or more, one for each infant;
- enough extra lifejackets for persons on watch (stowed on the bridge, in the engine control room and at other manned watch stations) and for remotely located survival craft stations;
- if adult lifejackets are not designed to fit persons up to 140 kg with a chest girth up to 1,750 mm, enough accessories on board to secure them to such persons.
Lifejackets must be readily accessible with their position plainly marked. On totally enclosed lifeboats and free-fall lifeboats, the lifejackets chosen must not hinder boarding, seating or the seat belts.1
What makes a lifejacket compliant
Section 2.2 of the LSA Code was replaced by resolution MSC.207(81), in force since 1 July 2010. Under it:3
| Requirement | Value |
|---|---|
| Sizes | Infant (under 15 kg or under 100 cm), Child (15 to 43 kg or 100 to 155 cm), Adult (43 kg or more, or 155 cm or more) |
| Fire | no burning or melting after 2 s fully enveloped in fire |
| Donning | at least 75% of people unfamiliar with it put it on correctly within 1 min unaided; after demonstration, everyone within 1 min |
| Jump | from at least 4.5 m holding the jacket, and 1 m with arms overhead, without injury or damage |
| In-water performance | compared with a standard reference test device (RTD): mouth lift, turning time, body and face angles, and return to face-up |
| Buoyancy loss | no more than 5% after 24 h in fresh water |
| Fittings | whistle on a lanyard, a light, a releasable buoyant line to link to another person, and a means for a rescuer to lift the wearer out |
An inflatable lifejacket must have at least two separate compartments, inflate automatically on immersion, have a single manual inflation motion and an oral tube for each chamber, and still meet the performance rules if one compartment fails.3
All life-saving appliances must be of international or vivid reddish orange (or a comparably highly visible colour) where this helps detection at sea, carry retro-reflective material and be marked with approval information.34
Lifejacket lights
Each lifejacket light must have a luminous intensity of at least 0.75 cd in all directions of the upper hemisphere for at least 8 hours, be visible over as much of the upper hemisphere as practicable when attached, and be white. A flashing light must also have a manual switch and flash 50 to 70 times a minute with an effective intensity of at least 0.75 cd.3
Batteries not marked with an expiry date may be used only if replaced every year (or, for rechargeable batteries, if the electrolyte can be readily checked). Permanent marking with an expiry date is the preferred method.4
The monthly check
SOLAS regulation III/20.7.2 requires a monthly inspection of the life-saving appliances with the checklist from the ship’s maintenance instructions, logged in the log-book.5 A practical checklist for lifejackets:
- correct number, sizes and locations against the Record of Equipment and the muster list;
- shell and straps undamaged, buckles working, no oil contamination;
- whistle on its lanyard, light fitted and in date, retro-reflective tape intact;
- for inflatable lifejackets: cylinder screwed in and not pierced, indicator showing armed, service date within 12 months;
- stowage boxes marked with the IMO symbol and number inside.
Annual servicing of inflatable lifejackets
Inflatable lifejackets follow the same rule as liferafts: service at intervals not exceeding 12 months (17 months where the flag finds this impracticable) at an approved servicing station that is competent to service them, maintains proper facilities and uses properly trained personnel.5 The service procedure itself is the manufacturer’s. The Bahamas, for example, applies the same extension and survey-window rules to inflatable lifejackets as to liferafts.7
At the annual survey
The surveyor examines the provision, stowage and condition of lifejackets with their whistles and lights and checks that their batteries are not out of date. On passenger ships the surveyor also checks that lifejackets are provided in infant, child and adult sizes in the required numbers.6
What the rules say
- SOLAS regulation III/7.2.1 requires a lifejacket for every person on board, plus lifejackets for persons on watch and for remotely located survival craft stations.12
- SOLAS regulation III/7.2.1.3 requires child lifejackets for at least 10% of passengers on passenger ships, or more so that each child has one.12
- SOLAS regulations III/7.2.1.1 and 7.2.1.2, as amended by MSC.201(81), require infant lifejackets for 2.5% of passengers on voyages under 24 h and for every infant on longer voyages.2
- SOLAS regulation III/7.2.1.5 requires accessories where adult lifejackets do not fit persons up to 140 kg with a chest girth up to 1,750 mm.2
- LSA Code paragraph 2.2.1.5.1 requires at least 75% of people unfamiliar with an adult lifejacket to don it correctly within 1 minute without help.3
- LSA Code paragraph 2.2.1.11 limits the loss of buoyancy to 5% after 24 hours in fresh water.3
- LSA Code paragraph 2.2.3.1 requires a lifejacket light of at least 0.75 cd for at least 8 hours, white, and paragraph 2.2.3.2 requires a flashing light to flash 50 to 70 times per minute.3
- SOLAS regulation III/20.8.1 requires inflatable lifejackets to be serviced at intervals not exceeding 12 months at an approved servicing station.5
- SOLAS regulation III/20.10 requires stowage locations to be marked with IMO symbols showing the devices stowed and their number.5
Flag and class notes
- Survey practice. Flags and class societies follow the IMO HSSC survey guidelines, which check lifejacket provision, sizes on passenger ships, whistles, lights and battery dates at every annual safety equipment survey.6
- Servicing extensions. The Bahamas applies its liferaft servicing rules (12 months, up to 18 months within the survey window, otherwise no more than a 5-month extension) to inflatable lifejackets.7
- For anything else, look up your flag’s marine notices on life-saving appliances and the class society’s statutory guidance. Several flags publish lists of approved service stations, which cover inflatable lifejackets as well as liferafts.
Key numbers
| What | Value |
|---|---|
| Child lifejackets, passenger ships | at least 10% of passengers1 |
| Infant lifejackets, voyages under 24 h | at least 2.5% of passengers2 |
| Adult fit without accessories | up to 140 kg and 1,750 mm chest girth2 |
| Unaided donning | 75% of unfamiliar users in 1 min3 |
| Jump height | 4.5 m3 |
| Buoyancy loss after 24 h | no more than 5%3 |
| Lifejacket light | at least 0.75 cd for at least 8 h3 |
| Flashing rate | 50 to 70 per minute3 |
| Inflatable lifejacket service interval | 12 months, flag may extend to 175 |
What inspectors find
- Child lifejackets listed on the Record of Equipment (Form E) missing from the ship; the Indian Register of Shipping’s 2024 PSC report lists this among detainable deficiencies.8
- IMO symbol for lifejackets missing at the engine room stowage.8
- Lifejacket and immersion suit lights with expired batteries, which surveyors are told to check at every annual survey.68
- Inflatable lifejackets past their 12-month service with no extension on board.57
FAQ
Do cargo ships need child lifejackets?
SOLAS III/7.2.1.3 applies to passenger ships. A cargo ship needs child lifejackets if the Record of Equipment lists them or children are carried, and PSC will check against Form E.
Can we use pre-2010 lifejackets?
The 2010 standard applies to lifejackets approved under MSC.207(81). Whether older approved lifejackets may stay in service is for your flag to decide; check its notices before buying replacements of an older type.
Our lights have no expiry date. Is that acceptable?
Only if the batteries are replaced every year (LSA Code 1.2.3). It is simpler to buy lights or batteries with a permanent expiry marking.
Can the crew re-arm a fired inflatable lifejacket?
Follow the manufacturer’s instructions. Some makers supply re-arming kits for crew use; even so, the annual service must still be done at an approved station.
Quiz5 questions
Sources
- 1
SOLAS 1974, chapter III, regulation 7.2 (Lifejackets), as adopted by IMO Resolution MSC.47(66) (in force 1 July 1998). https://wwwcdn.imo.org/localresources/en/KnowledgeCentre/IndexofIMOResolutions/MSCResolutions/MSC.47(66).pdf
- 2
IMO Resolution MSC.201(81), Amendments to SOLAS (adopted 18 May 2006, in force 1 July 2010), amendments to regulation III/7.2.1. https://wwwcdn.imo.org/localresources/en/KnowledgeCentre/IndexofIMOResolutions/MSCResolutions/MSC.201(81).pdf
- 3
IMO Resolution MSC.207(81), Amendments to the LSA Code (adopted 18 May 2006, in force 1 July 2010), new section 2.2 (Lifejackets) and paragraph 1.2.2.6. https://wwwcdn.imo.org/localresources/en/KnowledgeCentre/IndexofIMOResolutions/MSCResolutions/MSC.207(81).pdf
- 4
LSA Code, IMO Resolution MSC.48(66), paragraphs 1.2.2 and 1.2.3 (general requirements; period of acceptability and battery expiry). https://wwwcdn.imo.org/localresources/en/KnowledgeCentre/IndexofIMOResolutions/MSCResolutions/MSC.48(66).pdf
- 5
SOLAS chapter III, regulations 20.8.1 and 20.10 as adopted by Resolution MSC.47(66), and regulation 20.7 as amended by MSC.152(78). https://wwwcdn.imo.org/localresources/en/KnowledgeCentre/IndexofIMOResolutions/MSCResolutions/MSC.47(66).pdf and https://wwwcdn.imo.org/localresources/en/KnowledgeCentre/IndexofIMOResolutions/MSCResolutions/MSC.152(78).pdf
- 6
IMO Resolution A.1186(33), Survey Guidelines under the HSSC, 2023, Annex items (EA) 1.2.2.31 and (PI) 5.1.3.105.2. https://wwwcdn.imo.org/localresources/en/KnowledgeCentre/IndexofIMOResolutions/AssemblyDocuments/A.1186(33).pdf
- 7
Bahamas Maritime Authority, Marine Notice 06, Servicing of inflatable lifesaving appliances, version 1.3 (13 January 2026), section 3. https://www.bahamasmaritime.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/MN006-Servicing-of-inflatable-lifesaving-appliances.pdf
- 8
Indian Register of Shipping, PSC Annual Report 2024, life-saving appliance deficiencies. https://www.irclass.org/media/7954/psc-annual-report-2024.pdf
Rules checked 20 October 2026. VSL Safety is not an approved training provider and doesn't issue certificates. These lessons don't replace STCW training, or the manufacturer's training and certification that service technicians need.
