13 May 2020 ‘Wear Your Life Jacket to Work Day’

The Arkansas Game and Fish Commission and its partners in safe boating throughout the nation encourage everyone to help spread awareness of life jacket safety by wearing their life jacket to work Friday, May 15.

“Wear Your Life Jacket to Work Day” is an annual event hosted by the National Safe Boating Council. It is a great way to grab attention as well as demonstrate how far the comfort of modern life jackets has progressed.

Even with many Arkansans stuck at home because of current concerns about COVID-19, social media offers a great way to show your support of safe boating in The Natural State. Take a picture of yourself or loved ones wearing a life jacket during your daily activities and post it to the AGFC’s Facebook Page or tweet the picture with the hashtag #lifejacket2work to join in on the fun. 

According to Capt. Stephanie Weatherington, boating law administrator for the AGFC, wearing a working, properly fitting life jacket is the No. 1 thing people can do to prevent a fatality in the event of a boating accident.

“Last year, we had 10 boating-related fatalities in Arkansas, and all but one of them would have seen a much greater chance of survival if they’d simply been wearing their life jacket,” Weatherington said. 

On a national scale, U.S. Coast Guard statistics show that drowning was the reported cause of death in four out of every five recreational boating fatalities in 2018, and that approximately 84 percent of those who drowned were not wearing life jackets.