Final Design: Evacuate

The evacuate system is a rapid deployment unit that answers the need for evacuation preparation on many operational maritime vessels in developing countries.

As has been seen many times, these countries lack the ability to handle such disasters & this increases the devastating impact it has. In specific relation to the evacuate system, most vessels lack the ability to properly provide life saving rafts, for reasons such as damaged equipment.

This leads to problems in evacuating personnel from the ship as there is nowhere to go – resulting in sporadic distribution of the few who do make it into the water. However, trying to find one survivor in the ocean is likened to looking for a needle in a stack of needles. This presents an opportunity for the deployment of a system that not only serves as a backup life saving device, but one that increases chances of being rescued by increasing surface area covered in the water – The larger the object the easier to spot. This is the main idea behind EVACUATE.

Technically, Evacuate is a one piece roto-moulded HDPE flotation device with a solar powered safety light. However, these base units are connected using high strength copolymer rope and joined using carabineers. Once joined, an evacuation area is formed and it is this area that survivors congregate.

The units themselves are an easily visible bright orange that fits with the visual language of the marine rescue environment. The attached solar light is used for visibility in lower light conditions for both survivors looking for the evacuation point and for rescuers.

Deployment of the evacuate system is via cranes similar to those that exist on many ships for deploying life rafts. Essentially Evacuate is deployed as a whole unit that once in the water, each unit drift apart from each other and create a contained area.

Once inside this area, survivors activate the attached sea marker dyes that will release a bright green, highly visible dye into the water that further increases chance of being spotted. Once rescued, the evacuate unit can also be collected and reused, furthering product life.