Our brand new Coastal Group met at the RLSS offices in May, following a meeting of the existing Beach Advisory Group in the morning. The group brings together representatives from many of the major water safety organisations whose aim is to help save lives around the coast. It will work to raise awareness of the risks and take action to inform the public to keep people safe whilst participating in leisure activities on the coast. In the future other organisations such as local resilience forums and local government associations may be invited to join.
This time the group discussed how organisations would support the National Drowning Prevention Strategy and how risk assessments and safety plans might be made consistent across the country. Updates included information about:
- the Casualty Review Panel which assesses whether a person’s life might have been saved by a lifejacket
- Surf Lifesaving GB volunteers beginning beach patrols
- The National Trust working with the RNLI to improve safety at coastal locations
- RYA’s launch of Emily’s Code
- RLSS’s Drowning Prevention Week
- The work that NCI is carrying out with the Coastguard to help them with the reporting of incidents
- A new RNLI project on coastal walking
National Water Safety 