A group of four University of New Brunswick engineering students with close personal and working ties to the marine industry have developed a smart-lifejacket they believe could save more lives.
The LifeTrack Outlast lifejacket was designed by fourth-year engineering students Amy Andrews, Bridget McCloskey, Kaitlin MacIsaac and Phoenix Bard-Cavers through UNB’s Technology Management and Entrepreneurship (TME) program. The idea came in response to a 2017 Globe & Mail story citing the fishing industry as the deadliest industry in Canada.
“The fishing industry has the highest fatality rate of any other industry in the country,” says Ms. Bard-Cavers. “Most on-the-job deaths happen because workers aren’t wearing lifejackets, or the person who has fallen overboard is wearing a lifejacket but can’t be located.”
Shocked by this data and by the number of people losing their lives on the job, the team spoke with people in the industry, and to people in their own lives who work in the industry, to learn more. They found that workers often avoid life vests because they hamper their ability to work quickly and efficiently.
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Image via University of New Brunswick.