Designed in-house to meet the stringent requirements of the Ministry of Defence the ERU has seen many years of operational service around the world and is standard issue in many Navy’s.

The unit forms an integral part of the Man-overboard Quick Response & Rescue System; it is the pivotal operational component forming the “link” between the on-board electrical system, the Officer of the Watch Consul and the lifebuoy stowage/release chute.

Positioned on either side of the vessel, usually high up on the “Flying-bridge,” a lanyard fixed to the Lifebuoy is secured by the ERU between its “release bolt” and its housing.

In the event of a “man-overboard” the system is activated by a switch contained within the bridge consul, this in turn activates the internal wiring system of the ERU, prompting a solenoid to withdraw back into the body of the unit, there-bye releasing the lifebuoy and allowing it to fall into the sea.

As both the lifebuoy and the casualty should enter the sea in relative positions to the hull of the ship they should both be carried towards the stern of the vessel there-bye presenting a buoyancy aid in the same “water” as the casualty.

Manufactured using non-corroding Gun Metal Castings the unit has been designed to be maintenance free with all electrical connections readily available without the need to access the main body, which is “sealed” during manufacture using “tamper-proof” fixings.

A manual operation “button”, sealed within the cover plate allows easy “loading” of the lifebuoy as well as providing a remote means of manually testing the operation of the unit.