Has the RNLI has gone mad?

[mainsail1]

The Chief Executive of the Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI) has called on the government to restrict access to the coast until there are lifeguards back on the beaches.
Mark Dowie issued an open letter after two people died on Cornwall’s coastline on Monday.
"With thousands flocking to English beaches now lockdown restrictions have been eased, we must choose between keeping the public or our lifeguards safe," Mr Dowie wrote.

 

[BabySharkDooDooDooDooDoo]

In fairness to them they have been criticised in a recent incident where people died and the lifeguards weren't on station

 

[Capt Popeye]

In fairness to them they have been criticised in a recent incident where people died and the lifeguards weren't on station

Ahoy Little Grebe not really sure what you are saying, the RNLI refused to place their lifegards on the appointed / agreed beaches as they had both not trained the Lifeguards in corono virus procedures plus the Lock Down came into force; so as far as I can seen, they the RNLI declined to be accredited as Essential Services, so the RNLI decided to not staff /man the beaches with Lifeguards; much against the Lifeguards wishes down here in the South West;

In answer to Mainsail1, yes they have shown, again, themselves not to be up to the job in hand during this emergency, rather similar to Harbour Masters going well over the top in restricting Harbour Authority rules I fear.

 

[FlyingGoose]

RNLI life guard are contracted to work on the beaches from the councils
They do not look after every beach in the UK so why is the SW special
People flock to the beaches all the time , and know the risks or good signage should be put up to warn people , this is a council issue
Since when does the RNLI tell people to stay out of the water , what right have they to do so , we are an Island nation people die in the sea every year , get this nimby away , have we not got enough red tape and little hitters telling us what to do all the time ,
Next it will be the banning of speedo's on the beach because it causes offence to people
Go away and leave people alone with your rules

 

[Bluetack42]

Mr Dowie seems to have lost touch with what his organization is for! When all those little old ladies raise funds for the RNLI & then leave them large bequests when they pass on, I suspect that high on their reasons for doing so is the selfless action of volunteers putting themselves in harms way to save life. Mr Dowie sounds like he wants to take the easier route of campaigning to stop the risks at source, it will make for an easy life if the public stay locked up & the lifeguards indoors, but why stop there? Ban all forms of boating as well? Then he’s really kept the risks well down.

It would be interesting to compare the RNLI volunteer fatality rates over the years with CV-19 of the under 40’s as a proportion of the general population roughly 0.005%, my guess is they are at much greater risk from the water than any virus risk.

 

[BabySharkDooDooDooDooDoo]

Ahoy Little Grebe not really sure what you are saying, the RNLI refused to place their lifegards on the appointed / agreed beaches as they had both not trained the Lifeguards in corono virus procedures plus the Lock Down came into force; so as far as I can seen, they the RNLI declined to be accredited as Essential Services, so the RNLI decided to not staff /man the beaches with Lifeguards; much against the Lifeguards wishes down here in the South West;

In answer to Mainsail1, yes they have shown, again, themselves not to be up to the job in hand during this emergency, rather similar to Harbour Masters going well over the top in restricting Harbour Authority rules I fear.

I hadn't read that they had been asked and refused - do you have a link?

Edit - see the other thread on this subject

 

[duncan99210]

I think you’ve all rather missed the point here. The government changed the restrictions about using the sea virtually overnight without consulting anyone in local government or, it would seem, the RNLI or the MCA.
The RNLI provide their Lifeguard services not by way of local volunteers like the boat crews but by paid personnel, who are recruited and trained on a seasonal basis. That recruitment his year was stopped in its tracks by the restrictions. The RNLI now has to play catch-up, replacing a planned, well rehearsed annual recruitment and training programme with an ad hoc one at no notice whatsoever.
As I understand it, they are aiming to cover 70 of the normal 240 beaches as soon as possible this year. If you read the statements from the RNLI they make admirable sense. They aren’t calling for a closure of beaches but they are emphasising that at present there is no lifeguard cover and people should use the sea making sure they stay within their own capabilities.

 

[Juan Twothree]

Mr Dowie seems to have lost touch with what his organization is for! When all those little old ladies raise funds for the RNLI & then leave them large bequests when they pass on, I suspect that high on their reasons for doing so is the selfless action of volunteers putting themselves in harms way to save life. Mr Dowie sounds like he wants to take the easier route of campaigning to stop the risks at source, it will make for an easy life if the public stay locked up & the lifeguards indoors, but why stop there? Ban all forms of boating as well? Then he’s really kept the risks well down.

Nonsense. Mark Dowie isn't saying that at all. The issue, as very well described by duncan99210, is one of recruitment and accreditation.

I'm not fully up to speed on the details, as I do lifeboats rather than lifeguarding, but I know that they're currently working flat out to get the show on the road.

And in any case, where I live, the lifeguards are employed directly by the council, rather than the RNLI being paid to provide the service.

 

[Tintin]

I think you’ve all rather missed the point here. The government changed the restrictions about using the sea virtually overnight without consulting anyone in local government or, it would seem, the RNLI or the MCA.
The RNLI provide their Lifeguard services not by way of local volunteers like the boat crews but by paid personnel, who are recruited and trained on a seasonal basis. That recruitment his year was stopped in its tracks by the restrictions. The RNLI now has to play catch-up, replacing a planned, well rehearsed annual recruitment and training programme with an ad hoc one at no notice whatsoever.
As I understand it, they are aiming to cover 70 of the normal 240 beaches as soon as possible this year. If you read the statements from the RNLI they make admirable sense. They aren’t calling for a closure of beaches but they are emphasising that at present there is no lifeguard cover and people should use the sea making sure they stay within their own capabilities.

Lockdown came one week before deployment across Cornish beaches. Recruitment had been done. The majority repeat employees.

 

[dom]

Mr Dowie seems to have lost touch with what his organization is for! When all those little old ladies raise funds for the RNLI & then leave them large bequests when they pass on, I suspect that high on their reasons for doing so is the selfless action of volunteers putting themselves in harms way to save life.....

Rather well put if I may say so.

 

[jac]

The Chief Executive of the Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI) has called on the government to restrict access to the coast until there are lifeguards back on the beaches.
Mark Dowie issued an open letter after two people died on Cornwall’s coastline on Monday.
"With thousands flocking to English beaches now lockdown restrictions have been eased, we must choose between keeping the public or our lifeguards safe," Mr Dowie wrote.

Except that he hasn't.

His letter is here RNLI Chief Executive, Mark Dowie, writes open letter during pandemic | RNLI

Nowhere does it say it wants to ban people from the beaches - it just complains ( fairly of it's true) That it wasn;t warned in advance that it's services would be required.

I'm normally one of the first to criticise the RNLI for some of it's more ridiculous publicity guff but in this case i think the letter is reasonable but has been misrepresented.

 

[Halo]

Agreed. The media are an irresponsible shower that get a lot of thing’s wrong including this case.

 

[[159032]]

It's a fact of life that if you have first hand knowledge of a subject and it gets reported in the media, you will recognise the report to be wrong. They know nothing and usually fail to check facts.

 

[bedouin]

Except that he hasn't.

His letter is here RNLI Chief Executive, Mark Dowie, writes open letter during pandemic | RNLI

Nowhere does it say it wants to ban people from the beaches - it just complains ( fairly of it's true) That it wasn;t warned in advance that it's services would be required.

I'm normally one of the first to criticise the RNLI for some of it's more ridiculous publicity guff but in this case i think the letter is reasonable but has been misrepresented.

I heard him interviewed on BBC yesterday and he most definitely was calling for the government to restrict access to beaches. Hard to see how that was being represented.

I am a supporter of the RNLI but I certainly consider he has gone too far here - one of a number of incidents in the last couple of years that have made me more and more uneasy with them.

 

[mainsail1]

To me, the open letter is muddled thinking. Thrashing around for a solution to the wrong questions. If Local authorities only pay 20% of the cost of Lifeguards maybe the RNLI should have thought about that some years ago. Maybe providing Lifeguards is not what the RNLI should be doing. If it is their job then maybe the RNLI should have laid plans for the inevitable relaxation of the lockdown some week ago. I could ramble on...............but to say we should think before heading to the Coast is a crass nothing remark.

 

[chrishscorp]

Lockdown came one week before deployment across Cornish beaches. Recruitment had been done. The majority repeat employees.

That may be the case, HOWEVER there needs to be medical training updates.........

There is a major risk of contracting C19 whilst carrying out CPR not from breathing into the casulty as a bag valve mask will deal with that, but it is from carrying out chest compressions as this aspirates the contents of the lungs and if that person is C19 positive and that lifeguard is a paid employee, known risk, no mitigation of risk in place..........

The opening of beaches in this weather with out consultation or warning the RNLI, Councils and the MCA is reprehensible

 

[BabySharkDooDooDooDooDoo]

I got the distinct impression that many of the local authorities, harbour masters and the like hadn't used to intervening seven weeks to do any real planning for the re-start so were largely unprepared when the announcement was made.

The worst of them seemed to just spent that time making 'passive aggressive' statements and parroting government announcements on social media, the latter stopped all of sudden on that Sunday.

 

[sur-la-mer]

Since when does the RNLI tell people to stay out of the water

I'll be queuing up to watch you perform mouth to mouth on random strangers pulled out of the sea.

I think the people forced to pull the corpses of dumbasses out of the water should have some voice in the matter and those who don't should keep their politics out of it.

The opening of beaches in this weather with out consultation or warning the RNLI, Councils and the MCA is reprehensible

Agreed. It was a terrible idiocy typical of the incompetence and inconsistency the government is demonstrating.

Who was it that lobbied them, the ice cream van association?

 

[FlyingGoose]

I'll be queuing up to watch you perform mouth to mouth on random strangers pulled out of the sea.

I think the people forced to pull the corpses of dumbasses out of the water should have some voice in the matter and those who don't should keep their politics out of it.

Agreed. It was a terrible idiocy typical of the incompetence and inconsistency the government is demonstrating.

Who was it that lobbied them, the ice cream van association?

What are you talking . about , people die in the sea , in water in the UK every year with no RNLI lifeguards, they were brought in by the council as a council initiative,
Death is part of living, what you going to do next get the RNLI running up and down motorways with speed cameras
Keep them to their remit which was what it was founded for
Why are they Dumbasses who get into trouble maybe they were Just unlucky, it happens , we take risk every day we do not need the RNLI to keep telling us, it is not their remit , Again your defence of the SW as a unique area is getting boring
How many people, died last year in the SW beaches or in the water , please en-lighten us

 

[Tomaret]

Has statement been changed since it was posted?

The Times says that the CEO said

”the RNLI can’t stop people visiting beaches but the government can....”

Is the Times making up quotes or has the RNLI started to row back in the face of an outcry?