RNLI Lifeguards Report 2018 RNLI LIFEGUARDS REPORT 2018 Contents Our lifesaving values 3 Influence, Education, Supervise, Rescue 4 Service delivery 5 Data collection 6 Lifeguard definitions 7 Lifeguard statistics overview 8 Summary of incidents attended, people aided 9 and actions taken by lifeguards Actions taken by lifeguards by report area 10 and type Training 11 Youth engagement in the community 12 International 13 Awareness, fundraising and face-to-face 14 Research 17 Equipment and infrastructure 18 Media 19 News 20 Casualty care in action 22 RNLI lifeguarded beaches 2018 25 RNLI lifeguard regions 34 Photo: RNLI/Nathan Williams 2 RNLI LIFEGUARDS REPORT 2018 Our lifesaving values RNLI lifeguards can once again be justifiably 5. Equipment proud of the service they gave to their The RNLI prides itself on being able to equip communities in 2018. They provided over our lifesaving teams with the equipment 206,888 supervised beach patrol hours. they need to perform their roles in all the During the season, RNLI lifeguards performed conditions they may encounter. 3,430,580 preventative actions and assisted some 32,207 people through everything from rescue and The RNLI and the lifeguard service will casualty care to searches for missing persons. continue to evolve and improve in 2019. There All RNLI lifesaving delivery services have will be some changes to personnel including a adopted five key areas that they deliver against. new structure for our frontline management These are: with lead supervisors now appointed as part of the management team. The RNLI has also 1. Safety culture appointed a community lifesaving director – Through development of a strong safety and will have a new chief executive officer as culture we aim to look after our people part of the senior leadership setting the future in what is a very dynamic and potentially direction of our lifesaving strategy. hazardous environment. 2. Community lifesaving plan Lifeguarding is not simply about performing Our team at RNLI Headquarters rescues. Lifeguards are primarily deploying a supporting lifeguard services: preventative approach both on and off the Peter Dawes beach with education programmes informing Lifesaving Services Manager beach visitors on how to stay safe. Lee Fisher 3. Lifesaving performance Lifeguard Services Manager The lifeguard management teams monitor Brett Shepherd their lifesaving performance as part of Operations Manager (Lifeguards) continuous improvement and strive for excellence in lifesaving delivery. Marina Wilson Lifeguard Services Coordinator Photo: RNLI Lifeguards 4. Personnel The lifeguards themselves are at the core of Tim Fallowfield our lifeguarding service and each year there is Lifeguard Services Coordinator the challenge of recruiting and training some Contact us at: 1,500 lifeguards who will be at the frontline of [email protected] our service delivery. 3 RNLI LIFEGUARDS REPORT 2018 Influence Educate Supervise Rescue Non- Number of Contracted supervised Assistance 2,483 RNLI 206,888 RNLI children bathing hours Rescue, including 12,037 Beach safety Meet the Preventative actions 3,430,580 mass rescue 248 6 123,361 assessments Lifeguards* Casualty care and minor Lives saved 118 13,587 Hit the Surf 7,309 first aid Audits 16 40 Total lifeguard Search 313 130,670 Quick scans 0 0 beach safety advice Near miss 466 Missing/found 1,731 Non-aquatic assistance, 10,807 including from sandbanks * 2018 offered the same variety of activities and False alarm 107 programmes but they are now reported differently. In previous years, separate figures were recorded for Lifeskills/Crucial Crew, events and beach safety talks. Animals 160 These are now included in the total figure for Meet the Lifeguards. Other 430 4 RNLI LIFEGUARDS REPORT 2018 Service delivery Beach safety assessments • no quick scans (short-version The RNLI offers a beach safety beach safety assessments) assessment consultancy service to were completed all local authorities and private • signage audit reports were provided beach owners. for 17 beaches, bringing the total of The assessment process is designed non-RNLI beaches to 262 to help facilitate a comprehensive • we responded to requests for public beach safety management strategy rescue equipment audit reports by highlighting hazards and for 23 beaches; 160 non-RNLI assigning ratings and suggested beaches have now benefitted from control measures. this service. A beach safety assessment is Service development completed for each RNLI lifeguarded The total number of RNLI beach beach every 5 years, with annual lifeguard units in 2018 was 248, reviews of the full beach safety one down from 2017, with Pink assessments. Bay no longer lifeguarded for For non-RNLI beaches, the following operational reasons. were completed in 2018: During 2018, the estimated number • 6 beaches were fully assessed, of beach visitors to the 248 beaches bringing the total number of non- covered by RNLI lifeguards was over RNLI beaches assessed to 453 19 million (19,290,734). Photo: RNLI/Steve Berriman RNLI/Steve Photo: Photo: RNLI Lifeguards 5 RNLI LIFEGUARDS REPORT 2018 Data collection Incident data is collected from lifeguards and flood rescue teams on paper incident forms. Lifeboat crews complete an electronic return of service. These returns are entered, processed, checked and validated at RNLI Headquarters by the Service Information Section and Operations Research Unit. This incident data provides the basis for the statistics in this report. Since replacing our database with a web-based application called Lifesaving Activity Reporting (LSAR), we can collect incident information in a more structured way. This allows us to develop what information we capture and how we capture it for the future. We can now breakdown the lifeguard data in more detail and can report on incidents, the number of people we aid, as well as the number of actions our lifeguards perform. In previous years, we have used the number of lifeguard actions as the measure of people aided due to the way our previous system collected Photo: RNLI Lifeguards information. This meant there was a small amount of duplication but now, with the new LSAR system, we can accurately give the number of people aided in addition to the number of lifeguard actions performed. 6 RNLI LIFEGUARDS REPORT 2018 Lifeguard definitions Actions taken by lifeguards – casualty according to RNLI casualty Near miss – when a lifeguard the number of different ways that care protocols. observes an incident, event or lifeguards deal with incidents. condition that does not cause Any one casualty could receive False alarm – when a lifeguard death or serious injury but has the multiple actions by lifeguards. Actions responds to an incident where a potential to do so. where no people are involved are person is believed to be in difficulty also included. but upon arrival it is confirmed they Non-aquatic assistance, including do not require assistance. from sandbanks – when a lifeguard Animals – when a lifeguard rescues assists a person who was not in the or assists an animal to safety. Incident – any situation that RNLI water, or clears a sandbank of people lifeguards are involved in. who are at risk and ensures they Assistance – where a lifeguard aids return to shore. a person in the sea who is at low risk Life saved – where, if a lifeguard but, if left, would be at risk. had not intervened, a life would have Other – anything else that does been lost. not fit into the specified categories. Beach visitors – the number of beach visitors is assessed by recording Mass rescue – where there are five People aided – the total number of an estimate, every 2 hours, of the or more people at risk and a lifeguard people that lifeguards have aided. number of beach users within the physically returns them to shore or lifeguard patrol areas, those in the transfers them to a rescue craft. Preventative action – any action water between the red and yellow taken by a lifeguard that provides flags, and those using surf and other Minor first aid – where a lifeguard advice, guidance or direction to a craft between the black and white treats a casualty due to sickness or person that mitigates against risk. flags. The highest number for each injury who is at low or no risk but category each day is then used to requires treatment to ensure the risk Rescue – where a lifeguard responds obtain the overall number. does not increase. to a person at risk and physically returns them to shore or transfers Body recovery – where a lifeguard Missing/found – where a lifeguard them to another rescue craft. assists in the location of children, Photo: RNLI Lifeguards responds to an incident knowing that they will be required to recover separated from their parents/ Search – an organised search, a body. This includes those in the sea guardians, or other people who have with other search and rescue units, or on land. been found or reported missing, for a missing person either at sea including those who are known to be or on land. Casualty care – where a lifeguard missing as a result of an incident in or formally assesses and/or treats a on the water. 7 RNLI LIFEGUARDS REPORT 2018 Lifeguard statistics overview Lifeguards Number Photo: RNLI/Nathan Williams RNLI/Nathan Photo: Incidents 19,449 Lives saved 118 People aided 32,207 Actions taken by lifeguards 42,239 Preventative actions 3,430,580 8 RNLI LIFEGUARDS REPORT 2018 Summary of incidents attended, people aided and actions taken by lifeguards Actions taken Report area Incidents People aided by lifeguards Carrick