How tossing out old safety gear could kill someone
Q: What’s wrong with this photo?
A: The two old life jackets or PFDs (personal flotation devices) have been draped over the fence for someone else to use.
Whoever hung these life jackets on the fence was clearly done with them and certainly meant well. Maybe their kids grew out of them, and they thought someone else using the jackets would be better than tossing them in the dumpster. Or maybe they smelled musty. Or maybe the family sold their canoe. Whatever the reason, the owner’s misguided generosity has lethal potential.
Whoever wears one of these life jackets in the water next might experience another surprise: The worn buckle pops open. Or the frayed straps rip off. Or the sun-damaged fabric tears apart. Were any of these surprise events to occur, the life jacket will fail to keep that person’s head above water, possibly leading to a tragic consequence: a preventable drowning.
Global efforts to reduce, reuse, and recycle have slowed the accumulation of rubbish in our oceans, lakes, rivers, and landfills. That’s something to feel good about. Of course, both consumers and producers must do more if we want clean land, air, and water for our children and grandchildren. However, safety equipment (including anything that could be perceived as safety equipment) requires special treatment before being recycled, repurposed, or trashed.
As many summer programs in the northern hemisphere pack up for the winter, the early autumn issue of PRB+ seems like the best time and place to offer guidance on decommissioning safety equipment. Usually, it’s more involved than simply throwing it away. To prevent someone from reusing safety equipment that needs to be retired, it must also be deactivated. Usually, that means cutting it up in a way that prevents continued use by anyone who finds it.
Putting the principles below into practice could save lives, as could other preventive strategies. In this list, I’ve also included guidance on disposing of other materials that could cause injury, illness, or death. No doubt the list below is incomplete. Please write to me about what your organization does to prevent the misuse of retired equipment.
1. Hazardous Chemicals—Contact a town or city hall to learn where an organization can take any hazardous chemicals—from spent batteries to expired rat poison—for proper disposal. Some towns designate a couple of trash pick-up days each year for hazardous waste; others designate a periodic drop-off site. Don’t leave the responsibility of culling the poison from the persiflage to the company that empties the dumpsters. The planet and its people will thank you.
2. Medical Waste—Medical sharps, such as used needles and lancets, should be disposed of only in hard plastic, clearly labeled, sharps-disposal bins. Along with other medical waste, sharps-disposal bins cannot be put in regular dumpsters; they must be collected by or delivered to a certified disposal company. Proper disposal of medical waste prevents the spread of disease.
3. Non-Medical Sharps—Carefully enclose broken glass and other sharp objects (e.g., nails, screws, utility blades, etc.) in a few paper bags to reduce the chance of someone cutting themselves. You might be surprised at how often people reach into a rubbish bin to grab something they didn’t mean to toss or to compact the bin’s contents by hand.
4. Eliminate Traps—Remove or securely lock the doors of major appliances, such as refrigerators or washing machines, that could trap and suffocate a child who climbs inside.
If the appliance is newish and in working order, donate it to Habitat for Humanity or another charity, rather than leaving it on the sidewalk with a FREE sign or sending it to the landfill. If one must leave a major appliance on the curbside, take off the door or screw on a hasp that can be padlocked.
5. Cut Inflatables in Half—Inner tubes, rafts, water wings, and other inflatable toys (including blobs, icebergs, and other large structures) can sometimes be patched to plug small holes and thereby remain serviceable. However, once an inflatable can no longer be repaired, it must be retired by cutting it into at least halves.
Such radical deactivation renders the inflatable obviously out of commission and clearly impossible to fix. If the inflatable is left whole, an industrious person will be tempted to repair the item, only to discover, in drifting down a river or floating across a bay, that the inflatable is sinking.
6. Cut Life Jackets in Half—Every time a young participant dons a life jacket at a camp, parks & rec program, or other youth-serving organization, an adult should check that it is properly sized, correctly buckled, and undamaged. If a leader can lift the life jacket past a standing child’s chin, it won’t keep their head above water when it counts. Tighten the straps, select a smaller size, or both. As the U.S. Coast Guard moniker states, “It won’t work if you don’t wear it,” just like a seatbelt. Life jackets also won’t work if they are oversized or undersized, so ensure a proper fit.
Most importantly, retire any PFD that has torn or significantly bleached fabric, damaged or missing buckles, frayed straps, or other wear and tear that indicates the end of its usable life. To properly deactivate a life jacket, use heavy-duty scissors or a utility knife to cut through the life jacket at the stitching lines between the foam panels, rendering it impossible to wear. Pro Tip: To be green as well as safe, remove the closed-cell foam from inside each retired PFD. These strips make effective and reusable packing material for mugs, framed photos, and other delicate shipments.
7. Rescue Equipment—As with PFDs, leaders should deactivate any safety equipment, such as rescue tubes, backboard straps, and ring buoys, when they become cracked, excessively worn, or otherwise unserviceable. Thinking that “someone might be able to use it” when tossing old rescue equipment in the dumpster or charitably leaving it on the doorstep of a neighbor’s waterfront is irresponsibly risky.
If a piece of rescue equipment isn’t good enough for one’s children or young clients, don’t let someone else try using it with theirs. Cutting rescue equipment into pieces before throwing it away also ensures that it doesn’t become a prop for a skit and then unwittingly gets returned to the pool or waterfront.
8. Hidden Wear—An experienced lifeguard or waterfront director can see and feel the difference between a serviceable life jacket or rescue tube and one that must be retired. Other equipment, however, can have less visible but equally dangerous wear. It may appear to be in decent shape but still have dangerous levels of hidden deterioration.
For example, the aluminum alloy used to manufacture water-ski booms undergoes tremendous stress during use. For that reason, manufacturers provide a recommended retirement date along with the daily safety-inspection guidelines published in the user’s manual. Best practice is to decommission and deactivate those booms at the manufacturer’s recommended date, even if there is no visible damage.
Similarly, a helmet that has protected someone’s head once in a fall or crash, or a helmet that has sustained any impact that would have otherwise injured a person’s bare skull, should be retired by rendering it unusable and putting it in the trash. Even if a piece of equipment looks fine, chronic stresses and acute impacts end a product’s safe lifespan. Again, check with the item’s manufacturer for specific guidance.
Some safety is free, such as making wise choices borne of training and experience. Other safety is expensive, such as regularly replacing worn life jackets and rescue tubes. We all know the adage: The cost of new equipment is always less expensive than a lawsuit. This is true, but what we’re really seeking is not to sidestep litigation; we’re seeking to provide the healthiest and most fun experience for our participants and staff. New and well-maintained equipment helps. But that’s only half of the equipment equation. Taking the necessary steps to ensure our trash does not become another person’s treachery is the other half.
