Monthly Archives: August 2018

KIDDE FIRE EXTINGUISHER RECALL

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RECALL

Back in late 2017 a Kidde fire extinguisher recall notice was sent throughout our Marine community. However we have noticed many of our colleagues are not using fire extinguishers in their Rescue Water Craft. We are required by law to carry on board the proper fire extinguisher. Since the recall, there has been confusion on what type will fit in the secure areas onboard Rescue Water Craft. Sharing with you the fire extinguishers we are using on our K38 Kawasaki Ultra LX Jet Skis. Please read this article and make sure you replace yours if you did not get the notice!

November 2, 2017 - In conjunction with the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC), Kidde announced a recall to replace certain Kidde fire extinguishers. The replacement program was initiated because certain fire extinguishers can become clogged or require excessive force to activate, posing a risk of failure to discharge. In addition, the nozzle can detach with enough force to pose an impact hazard. The product recall involves two styles of Kidde disposable fire extinguishers: plastic handle fire extinguishers and plastic push-button fire extinguishers.

At Kidde, the safety of our customers is our priority. We have identified a potential product safety issue related to certain fire extinguishers.

As a result, Kidde is voluntarily recalling these extinguishers. This guide will help you identify whether your fire extinguisher is included in the recall, and show you where to find the information needed to process your request for a free replacement.

Affected Fire Extinguishers with Plastic Handles
There are two styles of fire extinguishers included in the recall: certain plastic handle fire extinguishers and push-button Pindicator fire extinguishers.

If the extinguisher has a gauge, the first thing to look for is a vertically oriented pull pin that is either fixed with two connections or hanging with a single connection.

Push-Button Pindicator Fire Extinguishers
The other type of affected extinguisher is the push-button Pindicator design. These extinguishers have push buttons, and a T-shaped pull pin and a loop handle. These units come in two sizes and are either red or white.

First Alert Marine Compact Fire Extinguisher 5-B:C

REPLACE

Note to Personal Watercraft Owners
If your push-button Pindicator model is used with a personal watercraft, Kidde does not currently have an exact replacement for it, but will provide a replacement that is U.S. Coast Guard rated, and similar in size. While it may not fit in the same location as the extinguisher that you currently have, there may be another space on your watercraft where the extinguisher can be stored or mounted.

PLEASE NOTE THAT THE KIDDE REPLACEMENT MANY NOT FIT IN EXISTING PERSONAL WATERCRAFT COMPARTMENTS, WE DO HOWEVER HAVE A LIMITED QUANTITY OF EXACT FIT REPLACEMENTS AVAILABLE IN OUR SERVICE DEPARTMENT. GIVE US A CALL TODAY (231) 220-2128 FOR DETAILS ON THE REPLACEMENT.

Non-Affected Fire Extinguishers with Metal Handles
If your extinguisher has a metal handle and metal pull pin – in any style – it is not affected.

Non-Affected Fire Extinguishers with Plastic Handles
Plastic handle extinguishers with horizontal plastic pull pins and a curved black plastic handle are also not affected.

These units come in various sizes and are either red, white or silver and can be ABC or BC rated but the important thing to remember is the horizontal plastic pull pin and curved black plastic handle.

For more information about how to determine if your extinguisher is affected:

Recall Video

Affected models

We have Four Kawasaki Ultra LX 2017 Jet Ski models currently. These are the fire extinguishers we recommend.
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Posted: 8.31. 2018

Have any questions? Join the Rescue Water Craft Association
and discover what your community is doing to modernize standards, safety and reduce liability!
Join the Rescue Water Craft Association

Content Creator: Shawn Alladio cares most about her community and the culture surrounding the safety of event service providers and Rescue Water Craft operators, working hard and dedicated towards protecting their reputation, distributing safety information and continuing to train these amazing individuals to the highest standards of care.

Use at your own risk. Please take a qualified Rescue Water Craft training course and maintain proper records and respect all the PWC, RWC, PPE, and gear OEM manufacturer warning labels and cautions.

Follow Through with PWC Recalls!

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RECALL

Recall alert!

The fuel hose in some of the 2016 Yamaha Waverunner Personal Water Craft models may not be properly connected to the fuel tank and may disconnect while operating.

This will allow the fuel line to drop from its connection point and to leak inside the engine compartment of the interior hull.

FROM BOATUS.COM

KNOW YOUR MODEL AND MONITOR THE INTERNET FOR UPDATES

This fuel line problem could potentially cause the engine to stall or even cause a fire.

This could also cause an explosion if the fuel lines up with any sparking contact or high heat.

If the Personal Water Craft has been operated for a while, the engine block and exhaust pipe will be hot.

EMERGENCY

Yamaha Motor USA and the U.S. Coast Guard advise not to use the following models until returned to a dealer for inspection and repair:

FX Cruiser HO, SHO, SVHO
FX HO, SVHO
FZR SVHO
V1, V1 Sport
VX, VX Cruiser, Cruiser HO, Deluxe, Limited
VXR
VXS

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Posted: 8.30.2018

Have any questions? Join the Rescue Water Craft Association
and discover what your community is doing to modernize standards, safety and reduce liability!
Join the Rescue Water Craft Association

Content Creator: Shawn Alladio cares most about her community and the culture surrounding the safety of event service providers and Rescue Water Craft operators, working hard and dedicated towards protecting their reputation, distributing safety information and continuing to train these amazing individuals to the highest standards of care.

Use at your own risk. Please take a qualified Rescue Water Craft training course and maintain proper records and respect all the PWC, RWC, PPE, and gear OEM manufacturer warning labels and cautions.

VHF Radio Use for Rescue Water Craft

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MARINE VHF RADIO

Let’s take a very quick basic overview of the use and function of a Marine VHF radio analog technology. Keep in mind there is a lot more to know FOR VHF Radio use, so use this guide as a precursor for further educational benefits by conducting your own research. VHF band is by law intended for use by mariners.

TERMINOLOGY-Marine VHF radio refers to the radio frequency range between 156 and 174 MHz VHF signifies the ‘Very High Frequency’ of that range. So that leads to what is MHz? Megahertz is used to express microprocessor clock speed. The unit is occasionally used in measurements of bandwidth for high speed digital data, analog and digital video signals and spread spectrum signals.

International Distress, Safety and Calling. Ships required to carry radio, USCG, and most coast stations maintain a listening watch on this channel.

CHANNEL 16- Marine VHF radio Channel 16 (156.800 MHz) Boater Calling Channel (VHF Channel 9)
The Federal Communications Commission established VHF-FM channel 9 as a supplementary calling channel for noncommercial vessels (recreational boaters) at the request of the Coast Guard. A ship or shore unit wishing to call a boater would do so on channel 9, and anyone (boaters included) wishing to call a commercial ship or shore activity would continue to do so on channel 16. Recreational boaters would continue to call the Coast Guard and any commercial facility on channel 16.

The purpose of the FCC regulation was to relieve congestion on VHF channel 16, the distress, safety and calling frequency. FCC regulations require boaters having VHF radios to maintain a watch on either VHF channel 9 or channel 16, whenever the radio is turned on and not communicating with another station.

Since the Coast Guard generally does not have the capability of announcing an urgent marine information broadcast or weather warning on channel 9, use of channel 9 is optional. We recommend boaters normally keep tuned to and use channel 16 in those waters unless otherwise notified by the Coast Guard. Channel 16 is monitored by the United States Coast Guard (USCG) and they will issue weather, hazards and restriction placed on navigation alerts when they are needed in your area of operation (AO). There are 50 different channels available with select defined roles by the FCC. Once contact is made on Channel 16 the USCG may redirect you to another channel.

Channel 16 should be monitored when you are underway in case a distress signal and request for emergency support is issued you can respond. Keep this channel open for those who truly are in need of lifesaving connectivity.

USCG LINK

Procedure for Calling A Ship by Radio
You may use channel 16 to call a ship or shore station, but if you do so, you must, must be brief! We recommend this same procedure be used over channel 9, if channel 9 is used as a calling channel.

For example:

Blue Duck: "Mary Jane, this is Blue Duck" (the name of the vessel or MMSI being called may be said 2 or 3 times if conditions warrant)

Mary Jane: "Blue Duck, this is Mary Jane. Reply 68" (or some other proper working channel)

Blue Duck: "68" or "Roger"

MAYDAY Radio Checks and other Hoaxes
A growing number of boaters unsuccessful in getting a radio check on VHF channel 16 are calling MAYDAY to get a response. Every hoax, including MAYDAY radio checks, is subject to prosecution as a Class D felony under Title 14, Section 85 of the U.S. Code, liable for a $5000 fine plus all costs the Coast Guard incurs as a result of the individual's action. Since hoaxes can lead to loss of life, the Coast Guard and Federal Communications Commission will work closely together, using when necessary FCC equipment capable of identifying the electronic signature of the offending radio. We ask your cooperation in helping us and the FCC remove hoaxes from the VHF radiotelephone distress, safety and calling channel 16.

Radio Checks
Radio checks with the Coast Guard Communications Stations on DSC and HF radiotelephone are allowed.

ETIQUETTE - Do not use foul language, do not allow children to handle your Marine VHF radio but do teach them how to use it properly for an emergency distress call, it is not a toy, and is monitored for transmissions that are forbidden. Keep Channel 16 open for true emergencies. Know the channels and their complimentary functions.

But most importantly, know your radio! You may want to place in a waterproof bag, and not all of them float. So we operate with them affixed to the front of our lifejacket, but not near our chest, off towards our shoulders. Marine VHF is not for shore use only for on-water, if used on land you are in violation of the law unless you have a special permit.

Don’t hog a channel, be mindful others may need to use it, it’s not a social device for communication but is intended to support safety at sea and navigational needs.

BATTERY-They have a self-contained antenna and battery pack. Normal range of battery life is approximately 8 hours, but it depends, some claim 20 hours of use, but for me, it’s dependent on location, weather and use of the radio. Batteries can fail due to corrosion of it the case is cracked of the cover not secure. Also make sure you use the proper charger and follow the charging instructions.

GPS

VISUALS-Being able to see the display helps to know which channel you are on. You can lock the channel in as well, we use iCom radios. Dot Matrix Display is helpful when choosing the menu functions, over a standard 7 segment LCD display. Dot Matrix pixilation count is rated for its screen resolution. Some are backlit brighter than others and the buttons as well.

GLOBAL-Some of the radios have a built in GPS that can send to the USCG your exact position in case of emergency. This provides you your Latitude and Longitude position. You can used stored waypoints with this feature for navigation. Some radios have Digital Selective Calling (DSC), it’s similar to using a device like Spot Locators as an emergency beacon. You just have to push down on a button usually lit as a red or orange emergency distress and it will send an automated digital distress message to the USCG and others vessels with radios in the vicinity. Channel 70 is Note that channel 70 is now authorized only for Digital Selective Calling, an emergency automated distress system mandated by international treaty; channel 70 may no longer be used for voice communication

This feature is great because you can store your emergency contacts. Some radios have other accessories such as different battery types or headsets. You can use your radio to hail Towing companies such as Vessel Assist, which is more reliable than using a cell phone due to dropped calls and on-water range, waterproofing and battery life.
K38 recommends you have a separate GPS tracking device. In case one fails you have a backup.

RWC VHF Radio

CARE

WATTAGE-There are limitations of range due to a transmit power of six watts. This is why you see some RWC operators in calmer waterways adding a larger external antenna to transmit from a high location. For our Rescue Water Craft use you can average a five watt transmit power to work at three to eight miles of range with variables. Switching to some models using higher watt output you may drain your battery quicker, so be careful on your settings.

Recreational Marine VHF radios for recreational boaters are limited to output of 25 watts so transmitters cannot be boosted and operate on a line of sight between stations, the higher the atenna the better the result. However our handhelds are limited.

BATTERY LIFE-Radio manufactures have a generic recommendation for battery life. 90% standby, 5% to receive and 5% to transmit at high power. Read the owner’s manual and you can have great tutorials on your specific brand model.

By having your radio with you on your person you can communicate when away from your Rescue Water Craft, which is a great safety feature for yourself as the Operator or Crew. Even better if the vessel capsizes and you are separated from the RWC you have a safety threshold to hail for assistance.

CAREFUL-Do not drop your radio! This is how irreversible damage occurs and can render the radio dead. Also any strikes to helm while underway can damage the lens or the housing and destroy your radio, so use due care! Never store your radio inside the glove box or any other compartment without completely protecting your radio from strike damage and breakage!

Make sure you use silicone grease to maintain an anti-corrosion base your battery housing for water or condensation inside the housing, mainly near the battery cover opening and the buttons and the antenna base. Apply silicone weekly to the battery terminals. Make sure the radio is dry before placing in charger.

Do not bend the antenna! If the rubber is cracked, replaced the antenna immediately.

Rinse with fresh water! What I like to do is to evacuate the water from the microphone and button areas to try to reduce the signature of corrosion. Conduct a final post inspection by opening up the battery case and look for condensation or water invasion, cracks in the case and be sure to use silicone grease to maintain anti-corrosion practices.

CHECK! If you want to hail a second Rescue Water Craft or vessel here is some advice:

1. Before you splash your RWC, make sure your radio is fully charged.
2. Power your Radio ‘on’.
3. Set your volume and squelch buttons.
4. Conduct a Radio Check on Channel 9 (noncommercial and non-emergency channel)
5. Make sure you are both operating on the same radio channel, Ch. 1078 is good for some areas if there is not a lot of traffic, but then switch back to 16 when underway to listen for emergencies
6. You can also monitor your local weather broadcasts on your VHF radio
7. Push down the mic key for clearance to talk, it’s usually located on the side of the radio, then send your message and depress the key button.
8. Hail the second RWC pressing the mic key and holding it by stating the vessel name twice, followed by your vessels name: “K38 one, K38 one, this is K38 two on Channel 1078, over” release the key.
9. Once contact is made, and our conversation is completed “K38 two returning to standby Channel 16 or K38 two out”. Do not say ‘over out’.
10. Channel 9 is designated for the boat calling channel (156.450 MHz)

Don't leave shore without your VHF Radio

EMERGENCY

1. Securite-Securite-Securite: Warns crew or others about important safety information. Also used to issue warnings and meteorological updates. Such as towing someone with restricted maneuverability and you want others to avoid you.

2. Pan-Pan-Pan: Urgent situation but not at imminent risk. You are in moderate risk, and a hazard to navigation

3. Mayday-Mayday-Mayday: SOS distress signal. Sets Search and Rescue (SAR) in motion. Life threatening situation. You are going down, you have lost a man overboard or you are heading to the beach or rocks, imminent danger.

During emergencies we can rely on our volunteer Ham radio operators. Ham radio operators using their frequency will state ‘Break-Break-Break’ as the equivalent to a Mayday call, never use the term ‘Break’ unless imminent threat to property or life is present.

Global Maritime Distress & Safety System
VHF maritime channel 70 (156.525 MHz) is authorized exclusively for distress, safety and calling purposes using digital selective calling (DSC) techniques. No other uses are permitted.

Channel 70 is used to send distress alerts, safety announcements and for calling purposes under the Global Maritime Distress and Safety System (GMDSS). Many vessels are now equipped with DSC capability and are using channel 70 for this purpose. It is essential that this channel be protected.

Storm Warnings?
The Coast Guard announces storm warnings and other urgent marine information broadcasts on VHF channel 16 before making the broadcasts on VHF channel 22A and 2670 kHz respectively. Storm warnings and forecasts are also made by NOAA Weather Radio.

REFERENCE

Channel 16
International Distress, Safety and Calling. Ships required to carry radio, USCG, and most coast stations maintain a listening watch on this channel.

Channel 70
Digital Selective Calling (voice communications not allowed)

Channel 1078
Non-Commercial. VDSMS (USA Great Lakes commercial channels 1079, 1080)

USCG INFORMATION: Frequencies are in MHz. Modulation is 16KF3E or 16KG3E.
Note that the four digit channel number beginning with the digits "10" indicates simplex use of the ship station transmit side of what had been an international duplex channel. These new channel numbers, now recognized internationally, were previously designated in the US by the two digit channel number ending with the letter "A".

That is, the international channel 1005 has been designated in the US by channel 05A, and the US Coast Guard channel 1022 has been designated in the US as channel 22A. Four digit channels beginning with "20", sometimes shown by the two-digit channel number ending with the letter "B", indicates simplex use of the coast station transmit side of what normally was an international duplex channel. The U.S. does not currently use "B" or "20NN" channels in the VHF maritime band. Some VHF transceivers are equipped with an "International - U.S." switch to avoid conflicting use of these channels. See ITU Radio Regulation Appendix 18 and ITU-R M.1084-5 Annex 4.

These new channel numbers should eventually begin to be displayed on new models of VHF marine radios.
Boaters should normally use channels listed as Non-Commercial. Channel 16 is used for calling other stations or for distress alerting. Channel 13 should be used to contact a ship when there is danger of collision. All ships of length 20m or greater are required to guard VHF channel 13, in addition to VHF channel 16, when operating within U.S. territorial waters. Users may be fined by the FCC for improper use of these channels.

USCG Website

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Published: August 28, 2018
Updated: February 11, 2019 (special thanks to Rene Haar for a suggested correction)

Have any questions? Join the Rescue Water Craft Association
and discover what your community is doing to modernize standards, safety and reduce liability!
Join the Rescue Water Craft Association

Content Creator: Shawn Alladio cares most about her community and the culture surrounding the safety of event service providers and Rescue Water Craft operators, working hard and dedicated towards protecting their reputation, distributing safety information and continuing to train these amazing individuals to the highest standards of care.

Use at your own risk. Please take a qualified Rescue Water Craft training course and maintain proper records and respect all the PWC, RWC, PPE, and gear OEM manufacturer warning labels and cautions.

Constitutional Value

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What Constitutes Your Rescue Water Craft Value?

What is your fundamental Rescue Water Craft fact presented to you filtered to a specific point of your actions and your agency perception? Can you decide what reduction or increase you allow or is compromised? Value can be determined as personnel safety and competency, financial, the importance, worth or usefulness of your RWC program, your program principles or standards, the benefit, gain or merit of your program.

These values are interpretive. To the extent of which is perceived by the group or measured by the instructor cadre and the expectation of the public for a reliable service to be performed. We care about your reputation and your program. We have posted information to rally the community to take responsibility and contribute to reducing the injury accident rate by competent behaviors. First you have to know what you are doing for it to be a secondary benefit.

I have said before ‘Safety Means Danger’, and this means that each of us are placing ourselves in grave danger. Grave is an Old English word for ditch and in the sense of burial ‘graf’ is a Germanic language for grave meaning for heavy or gravity, if we base the saying ‘grave danger’ in etymological roots for us we can use it as a reminder to be prepared to avoid the grave through mistake. Of course this is my interpretation and you are welcome to select your own.

How do you rank?

The facts we have are in the domain of education and distributed through information outlets entrusted to instructors. Or for the modern push we can say for those who view YouTube videos and attempt to imitate what they best determine to be the ‘facts’. Is this reliable and if so how do we account for leveraging the facts to interpret if they are determinable for our increase of safety and our reduction of danger?

Risk management is a solid aim, its truth lies in the details. For this we must remain constantly vigilant for our personal safety and to ensure our program stays in step with current changes in our equipment.

Yes, accidents will happen and so can injuries. There are RWC answers and information that is credible that can assist your department in mitigating these risks significantly. Conduct effective RWC research and do your homework, both at the inception of a Rescue Water Craft program and with an annual review. You will feel better knowing that you applied your best effort to the facts at hand.

Perception and facts can be targeted by groups, hubris, and the individual who reduces the structure of facts to a single point of values in the agency, community or individuals facts. How are these gauged? Usually after an accident or an injury. So once again, conduct effective research and be prepared to present facts vs. perceptions when the occasion arises.

Rescue Board Training and Inspection

MANAGEMENT

Any accident is a story that tells our behavioral trackline. Typically a lot of mishaps can be prevented simply by incorporating an effective preventative maintenance and inspection program. Often the facts are obvious, but ignored. Such as a crease in the rescue board or its anchor points are frayed, or the Rescue Water Craft hours are not maintained according to the manufacturer recommendations for inspection, replacement and care.

Compromise eventually catches up to us. It’s not easy to maintain a Marine Unit. It requires a lot of dedication towards program management, team building and a strong knowledge base.

Unfortunately often due to the demands of budget limits many programs are greatly reduced or in the process of reduction from a functional structure. Time is a big part of the Rescue Water Craft structure. Applying the appropriate amount of time to create a rule based program and to enforce its governing principles is key. This will require that effective checklists are generated for not only the Rescue Water Craft, but all the accessory equipment, training and maintenance needs.

If you are open to a suggestion, think about the amount of time allocated for maintaining your program. List the following:

1. Annual budgets: Vessels, accessories, maintenance, training
2. Replacement budget for losses/damage
3. Training hours focused on ‘training with purpose’. Make sure you are training for the results you can expect in the field. Forget YouTube videos for a while and look at your agency or neighboring agency past incidents and revisit the actions of the survivors you worked with and start from there.
4. Practice the ending! The transport, care and extrication of your survivors and gear.
5. Join the Rescue Water Craft Association and get connected with Subject Matter Experts
6. Attend the WaterRescueCon-the only RWC conference in the world.

When you take the lead, you are helping an entire team, their families and the public at large. There is no greater accomplishment knowing that you have spread a protective layer over many, including yourself. Not easy, but you can do this!

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Have any questions? Join the Rescue Water Craft Association
and discover what your community is doing to modernize standards, safety and reduce liability!
Join the Rescue Water Craft Association

Content Creator: Shawn Alladio cares most about her community and the culture surrounding the safety of event service providers and Rescue Water Craft operators, working hard and dedicated towards protecting their reputation, distributing safety information and continuing to train these amazing individuals to the highest standards of care.

Use at your own risk. Please take a qualified Rescue Water Craft training course and maintain proper records and respect all the PWC, RWC, PPE, and gear OEM manufacturer warning labels and cautions.

USCG Alert Issued Regarding LED Lighting

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August 15, 2018 Safety Alert 13-18

Washington, DC

Let us enlighten you about LED lighting!

Potential interference of VHF-FM Radio and AIS Reception.

The U.S. Coast Guard has received reports from crews, ship owners, inspectors and other mariners regarding poor reception on VHF frequencies used for radiotelephone, digital selective calling (DSC) and automatic identification systems (AIS) when in the vicinity of light emitting diode (LED) lighting on-board ships (e.g., navigation lights, searchlights and floodlights, interior and exterior lights, adornment).

Radio frequency interference caused by these LED lamps were found to create potential safety hazards. For example, the maritime rescue coordination center in one port was unable to contact a ship involved in a traffic separation scheme incident by VHF radio. That ship also experienced very poor AIS reception. Other ships in different ports have experienced degradation of the VHF receivers, including AIS, caused by their LED navigation lights. LED lighting installed near VHF antennas has also shown to compound the reception.

Strong radio interference from LED sources may not be immediately evident to maritime radio users. Nonetheless, it may be possible to test for the presence of LED interference by using the following procedures:

1. Turn off LED light(s).
2. Tune the VHF radio to a quiet channel (e.g. Ch. 13).
3. Adjust the VHF radio’s squelch control until the radio outputs audio noise.
4. Re-adjust the VHF radio’s squelch control until the audio noise is quiet, only slightly above the noise threshold.

Safety Alert 13-18


5. Turn on the LED light(s).

If the radio now outputs audio noise, then the LED lights have raised the noise floor. (Noise floor is generally the amount of interfering signals / static received beyond the specific signal or channel being monitored.)

6. If the radio does not output audio noise, then the LED lights have not raised the noise floor.

If the noise floor is found to have been raised, then it is likely that both shipboard VHF marine radio and AIS reception are being degraded by LED lighting.

In order to determine the full impact of this interference, the Coast Guard requests those experiencing this problem to report their experiences to Coast Guard Navigation Center1. Select “Maritime Telecommunications” on the subject drop down list, then briefly describe the make and model of LED lighting and radios effected, distance from lighting to antennas and radios effected, and any other information that may help understand the scope of the problem.

This Safety Alert is provided for informational purposes only and does not relieve any domestic or international safety, operational, or material requirement. Developed by the U.S. Coast Guard, Spectrum Management and Telecommunications Policy Division.

Distributed by the Office of Investigations and Analysis.

Questions may be sent to HQS-PF-fldr-CGF-INV@uscg.mil.