RNLI Community Safety – Thanet Community Safety Team
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The Role of the Thanet Lifeboat Community Safety team is to promote the aims of the RNLI in saving lives by changing the attitudes and behaviour of leisure boat owners and other users of the coast and coastal environment, and to promote the RNLI as being the leading provider of coastal safety information. This is completed in several ways including the provision of leaflets and give-aways such as waterproof wallets for mobile phones, lifejacket key-rings, badges and stickers. Supplies of these promotional leaflets and give-aways can be provided on request for use by boating clubs, angling clubs, tackle shops, chandlers, pubs, cafes, restaurants, Coastwatch Look-Outs, Tourist Information Centres and other locations adjacent to the coast.
Ramsgate’s Inshore Atlantic 85 Lifeboat (ILB)
Respect the Water and RNLI Community Safety
Respect the Water is the RNLI’s national drowning prevention campaign. It highlights the risks, helps you avoid them and gives advice to keep you and your friends and family safe. We want you to enjoy the water, but also to recognise its dangers and never underestimate its power. Over 160 people die each year at the UK coast with a further 60 in Republic of Ireland, half of whom never even intended to get wet. We’re aiming to see numbers halved by 2024.
Community Safety team members chatting to a boat owner
The RNLI Thanet Community Safety team are available on request to provide advice and guidance on a variety of topics including:
Advice Onboard (AOB) – An AOB visit entails an open discussion with any boat user (sailing, kayaking, angling etc.) on how to use safety equipment, how to maintain it and how to plan for things that might go wrong out at sea. These visits take place wherever the users boat happens to be – a harbour, marina, boatyard or on the back of their trailer at home
Lifejacket Clinics – A lifejacket clinic can happen at a variety of locations, harbours and boat clubs. It provides users with a chance to bring their lifejackets along and for us to demonstrate how they should be worn, have them checked for faults, and what should be routinely checked on an on-going basis.. Over the years, on average, we find that 30% of inflatable lifejackets (automatic and manual) would not have worked if the wearer accidentally fell into the water. The cause of these failures is easily identified and often remedied.
Man Overboard (MOB) When asked about their experience of safety incidents, 1 in 8 people said that they had gone overboard while sailing a yacht. Why not arrange an interactive talk for your club to discuss the issues surrounding Man Overboard, its prevention and their recovery.
Our Community Safety Officer delivering a Thanet Coastal Patrol Briefing
Thanet’s four priorities
The four coastal based activities that are targeted in the Thanet area:
1) Swimming;
2) Yacht sailing and motor boating;
3) In-water play/beach users; and
Why not check out our blog page wich is updated weekly on our team’s lifesaving activity and top safety tips. You may also like to sign-up for our monthly newsletter which is delivered to straight your inbox for free to keep you abreast of everything we are up to.
