Type of client: Small businesses and government agencies
Field: Personal safety equipment
SIS client: Baltic Safety Products AB, manufacturer of life jackets, and Konsumentverket (the Swedish Consumer Agency), a state agency dedicated to protecting consumer interests.
Problem/challenge:
A new European standard for life jackets was being pushed through that would involve negative consequences for the entire Nordic market.
Collaboration with SIS:
Baltic, the Swedish Consumer Agency and other Swedish participants in the SIS standardization project succeeded in influencing the new European standards to the positive benefit of Sweden and the Nordic countries.
Since 1989, Baltic CEO Per Frode has participated in a number of standardization committees linked to life jackets and survival suits. The Swedish Consumer Agency participated in the SIS standardization process in an effort to promote the wider use of life jackets by all those near or on the water.
Result
The classic life jacket has progressed from an uncomfortable and anonymously designed orange coloured product to a comfortable and purpose-designed life preserver, carefully adapted to the specific application and current fashion trends. Whether you sail, fish, paddle, work on an oil rig, ride a wakeboard or drive a snowmobile, there is a product specially for you. Life jackets are manufactured in compliance with European (EN) standards, which have now become globally applicable ISO standards.
Check this out: if you own a classic life jacket, see whether it is CE certified, with the legend ‘Buoyancy Aid 50N’. Thus means that it is approved in compliance with the SS-EN ISO 12402-5 standard.
What happened then?
Baltic, which was only a one-man business at the end of the ’70s, is now the largest manufacturer of life jackets in Europe. The company has retail outlets in some 50 countries.
The Swedish Consumer Agency has continued to pursue its policy of trying to reduce accidents and fatalities by promoting the development of products that provide consumers with products that are attractive, functional and safe. Examples include helmets for winter sports, cycling and skateboarding/inlines.
In the year 2000, 134 people drowned in Sweden. Ten years later, according to Svenska Livräddningssällskapet (the Swedish Lifesaving Association), in 2010, this figure had been reduced to 79.