Weekly 5: Mandatory life jackets would reduce deaths by 80 percent, study says

The BI Weekly 5 is a collection of tips, news and data affecting the boating industry this week. Be sure to look for the BI Weekly 5 every Tuesday on BoatingIndustry.com.

1. Mandatory life jackets would reduce deaths by 80 percent, study says

More than three quarters of boating deaths could be prevented if life jacket use was mandatory, a new study says.

The study, published in Risk Analysis, was based on U.S. Coast Guard data from 2008 to 2011. The study’s authors estimated that a mandatory life jacket law would result in a 20 percent increase in use and would have saved more than 1,700 boaters during that period.

2. Georgia boat builder growing quickly; adding dealers, employees

H20 Sports Manufacturing is rapidly increasing production as the eight-month-old manufacturer adds dealers and employees.

“We started off with five employees and have built it up to 31 currently,” President Chad Roberson told local Fox affiliate WBRC. “And zero dealers and we’re up to over 20.”

“We recently had a dealer meeting and we sold right around 300 boats at that dealer meeting, and fortunately, we need more people,” he added.

3. For GE, breaking up is hard to do

Separating GE Capital from the rest of the industrial giant hasn’t been easy, writes Fortune in this update on the efforts to streamline the company.

4. Federal government hosting calls on Cuba exports

The Bureau of Industry is hosting monthly calls to answer questions on exporting to Cuba. The next call is scheduled for Sept. 8.

5. The best time to give employee feedback

Giving employees feedback in the right setting — in public or one-on-one — is important. HBR.org offers some guidelines to help make the right call.