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Respect The Water Newsletter
MAY 2015
A TEAM APPROACH
In order to save more lives and achieve a reduction in drowning, the whole Community Lifesaving Team must
work together. Below you will see updates from the Community Safety team to keep you up to date with
developments across the Respect the Water campaign, our products and programmes, scoping and insight, and
our community lifesaving plans around the coast.
RESPECT THE WATER LAUNCH!
If you haven’t heard about it already, Respect the Water is the RNLI campaign that puts drowning prevention at
the heart of everything we do. It will play an important role in helping us achieve our organisational aim to halve
coastal fatalities by 2024.
With the lessons we’ve learnt the past two years, we are now confident to launch Respect the Water campaign
on a truly national scale this summer. It’s going to be big, really big! The summer activity will start
on Thursday
9th July and will be the largest campaign the RNLI has ever run.
We’ll make it as personally relevant as possible to those most at risk, and focus on three main issues to remind
people the British and Irish seas are dangerously unpredictable;
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Cold water shock
Motion of the ocean (currents, waves & tides)
Unexpected slips, trips and falls into the wate r
DON'T MISS THIS...
More information and sneak previews will be available before July but expect a thought-provoking and powerful
campaign which you’ll hear or see across cinema, radio, online, outdoor posters, press adverts and in local
communities with tonnes of water and pub packs! There will also be plenty of campaign resources made
available to order for those who want to get involved and spread the word.
For more details contact: Ross_Macleod@rnli.org.uk or Daniel_Proctor@rnli.org.uk
To find out more visit: http://rnli.org/safety/respect-the-water/
SAFETY CAMPAIGNS
The Community Safety Product and Programmes team produces the 'intervention' to encourage safe behaviour
amongst those involved in coastal activities.
PRODUCTS CURRENTLY LIVE
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Commercial Fishing campaigns around Personal Flotation Devices and stability which target the
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riskiest activity of all.
Angling will talk to both shore and boat fishermen, encouraging all to wear lifejackets, carry a means for
calling for help as well as knowing how to use it; and for those in a boat – check hull fittings for leaks
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and always have a means of plugging a hole in an emergency.
Kayaking focuses on carrying a means for calling for help and keeping it within reach.
Cut off by tide has a few options dependent on local needs, from Text for Tide, Tidal App and Traffic
Lights, all highlighting dangers of high tides.
NEXT TO COME
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A brand new diving campaign is about to launch advising mature divers to check their personal health
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before they go diving.
Swim Safe will be happening again this summer, teaching kids that swimming in open water is different
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to a pool, making them aware of rip currents, tides, waves and cold water.
We are also working on a new Sailing campaign ready to launch later this summer.
For more details contact: Helen_Dent@rnli.org.uk
To find out more visit: http://rnli.org/safety/respect-the-water/activities/Pages/activities.aspx
And our very latest hot off the press product is the Community Safety Key Message Booklet. This is a
pocket- sized guide for volunteers and staff, outlining the key information they need to deliver consistent
and credible safety advice around 17 different coastal activities to the general public. The information is
backed up with the confidence of fully referenced research. To find out more about the booklet and how
to use it, watch this short video here.
COMMUNITY SAFETY SCOPE AND INSIGHT
The Intelligence team produces a range of information for the Products Team and other members of the RNLI.
This includes in depth activity profiles, a weekly news roundup, issues briefs for specific hot topics, stakeholders
briefs and any other specific information as requested.
Excited about...
We are supporting the National Water Safety Forum (NWSF) in developing a UK National Drowning Prevention
strategy. The first document that outlines the strategy’s intent is being produced now for stakeholder approval,
with the final strategy being launched by the end of this year.
For more details contact: Tony_wafer@rnli.org.uk
COMMUNITY LIFESAVING PLANS
What is this? Community Lifesaving Plans (CLPs) are focusing on reducing coastal deaths and other serious
incidents by raising awareness of risks and providing local education and help to those who might get into trouble
before they do so.
How will it work? Over the remainder of the year, a CLP will be produced for every lifeboat station area to
identify the main issues and to provide a means to introduce the products and programmes we are developing to
help reduce the risk.
Who is involved? This is a community plan so we'll work with others in a community as partners to save lives.
These partnerships may be very specific to a locality or activity, or may be a part of a national partnership. Our
Community Incident Reduction Managers will follow this up by working with each community to develop the CLP
to deal with all the main issues. Starting in the areas where risk is greatest, they will ultimately develop the CLPs
with all communities to ensure we are tackling the problem everywhere.
For more details contact: Kevin_Rahill@rnli.org.uk or Helen_Chrurch@rnli.org.uk