History of innovation

Reginald Foster Dagnall founded RFD in 1920 to service the British armed forces during The Great War. Since then we've become a world leader in the supply of marine and aviation safety and survival equipment.

RFD firsts

1932

First automatic inflatable life raft system - adopted by the Air Ministry

1954

First life raft to be approved by International Maritime Organisation

1965

First life raft to gain SOLAS approval for use on commercial vessels

1976

First welded life raft - significantly stronger than the competition

1979

First marine evacuation system

1997

First dry-shod marine evacuation system for cruise ships and passenger vessels

1999

RFD receives prestigious Millennium Award for Innovation, for the Marin Ark, Marine Evacuation System

2009

New generation Marin Ark 632 attains MED approval, making it the world's largest fully enclosed marine evacuation system