Hi all,
I think at this point, with regard to pyrotechnics, I would suggest that best practice is to only have up to date pyrotechnics on board. For offshore boats, this is onerous financially as the minimum requirement for many countries is way less than I deem necessary to have on board. But like many items in the safety budget, it can’t be helped and we hope it is money spent only “as insurance” like rafts and fire extinguishers.
But I believe that the expiry date could be reasonably extended. I would have us agitate, wherever possible, for there to be storage requirements (basically, kept dry and out of the sun etc.). Were that the case, I suspect that we could double the expiry date. Flare manufacturers will resist this, unfortunately, but it seems that flares are made to absorb the poor storage some skippers subject them to (they do not want to be blamed for a flare that does not go off, even if poorly stored, so they over-build them).
I have seen some skippers pull flares out of sail lockers in canvas bags that are perpetually damp. I have also seen them in ammunition boxes that are rusty and damp. Most “grab bags”/ “abandon ship bags” are not waterproof enough for what I am talking about, but are likely adequate for the few years before expiry of new flares.
Mine are kept in a “river rapids use” dry bag.
My best, Dick Stevenson, s/v Alchemy

Hi Richard,
Can you give the details of the bad experiences with out of date flares, in particular the serious injury you reported. I would most appreciate a citation of a write up, article, or injury report as well as any details you might remember: what kind of pyrotechnic device, how out of date, manufacturer , was it SOLAS certified at manufacture, how stored, where occurred, etc.
Thanks a lot. Field reports of this type are very valuably.
My best, Dick Stevenson, s/v Alchemy