EU Safety Gate · Report-2007-39

BFA MARINE · Self-inflating life rafts

The product poses a serious risk of drowning because the life raft may not inflate when used, owing to a fault:- in the two valves on each of the two compartments, - on the Y-shaped plastic inflating connection. It seemed that the valve fault originated from assembly in a factory using lubricants which allowed tightening beyond the force recommended by the supplier. When over tightened, the overpressure valves can crack, or even break, after a period of time which is difficult to estimate, but which may apparently be shortened as a function of storage temperature. Concerning the Y-connection, a Y-shaped plastic inflation connection is fitted to a small number of life rafts manufactured. The presence of traces of lubricant detected by analysis suggests that the cause of the faults on the Y-connection is the same as in the case of the valves.