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The Coastal Safety Group is today opening its inaugural conference at which it will be focusing on teamwork and collaboration in pursuit of world class water safety services.

Only open to Coastal Safety Group (CSG) members and stakeholders, the two-day conference, running on 26^th and 27th October is hosted by Randwick City Council.

The first day will be held in the Prince Henry Centre at Little Bay where delegates will discuss current and future opportunities to improve lifeguard services. On day two delegates will head to the beach for a day of joint training where, organisers advise “senior lifeguards can hone their skills and learn the latest techniques to take back to their individual services”.

Background
Beaches are an iconic part of Australian culture with thousands of people flocking to the nation’s shorelines year-round.

However, the CSG cautions “our beaches can also be dangerous. In the 2019/20 season a total of 49 lives were lost on NSW coastlines - this represents a 14%increase on last year’s figure and is above the 16-year average of 42. 

“During the 2019/20 year 49 lives were lost on NSW coastlines. 45% of these were at the beach and a further 22% from rock ledges and cliffs. The most common activities prior to drowning were swimming and rock fishing. Sadly, this a further increase to a 16-year average of 42.

“The need for a cohesive, collaborative approach amongst Councils was highlighted in 2020/21 following a spate of issues including COVID responses on beaches across LGAs, inconsistent messaging to the public across Councils regarding beach safety rules and regulations (and) councils being consulted individually on policy changes (such as the Australian Maritime Safety Authority Personal Watercraft policy) leading to individual submissions and a lack of a cohesive voice across the region.”

The Coastal Safety Group
The Coastal Safety Group is a  is a Coastal Safety Group is a network of coastal land managers which aims to facilitate collaborative, effective and consistent evidence-based approaches to coastal safety risk management across all NSW coastal councils.

Offering a cohesive voice for advocacy on behalf of councils responsible for coastal safety, it works to harness the individual and collective knowledge of members, academic experts and other coastal safety stakeholders to take leadership on coastal safety management.

For more information contact Tony Blunden of the Coastal Safety Group on 0407 724 465, E: info@coastalsafetygroup.com.au

Click here for more information on the Coastal Safety Group Conference 2022.

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