New beacon helps find overboard sailors.

• Author: Foster, Sharon
• Position: Tech Talk - Overboard Recovery Communication Apparatus - Brief Article

The U.S. Navy is deploying an alarm system designed to protect its 180,000 sailors at sea from falling overboard and drowning, according to the system's inventor, Joe Landa, director of product development at BriarTek Inc., of Alexandria, Va.

Falling overboard is a serious risk for sailors, who often have to work on ship decks during heavy seas and high winds, said the Navy Safety Center, in Norfolk, Va. Since 1980, the center said, more than 1,000 sailors have been swept into the seas, and 133 of them have died. During the early days of the war on terrorism, the Navy had three overboard incidents.

The only current way for the Navy to detect a man overboard is by sight, said a BriarTek partner, Charles Collins, a former naval officer.

BriarTek's system--known as the Overboard Recovery Communication Apparatus, or ORCA--is water-activated and alerts a...