HM Sheppey Coastguard undertook a training exercise in cliff rescue at Warden Springs

on  Sunday 19th June Sheppey Coastguard undertook a training exercise in cliff rescue at Warden Springs.

 

Rope rescue methods are to recover casualties who have fallen or are stuck on cliffs. The team worked together to lower a cliff rescue technician who assessed the ‘casualty’, provided first aid treatment if necessary and then recovered the casualty to the top of the cliff, before transferring the casualty to the next level of care as required.

 

Her Majesty’s Coastguard is responsible for the initiation and co-ordination of civil maritime search and rescue with in the United Kingdom Search and Rescue Region. This includes mobilization, organisation and tasking of adequate resources to respond to persons in distress at sea, or to persons at risk of injury or death on the cliffs or shoreline of the United Kingdom.

 

The Coastguard Rescue Service is an established front line UK emergency response service capable of undertaking cliff and mud rescues, coastal and inland searches, coastal and inshore surveillance tasks from well-equipped response vehicles plus a range of other maritime safety tasks. The Sheppey Team is made up of Coastguard Rescue Officers (CROs) who are volunteers trained to carry out rescues and provide assistance to those in distress on the UK’s coastline. We carry out rope rescue, mud rescue, water rescue and search duties in all weathers and at all times. We are paged by the National Maritime Operations Centre (NMOC). The Sheppey Team also provides safety advice to those they rescue and members of the public.

 

After recovering any casualty the team will provide the assistance needed then will transfer them to a place of safety. The teams will also provide support to the lifeboats and Search and Rescue  helicopters per tasking by the Operations Centres.

 

Sheppey Coastguard Station Officer Tim Judge remarked “This training exercise highlights the dangers involved in walking or working near cliff edges, particularly in wet or windy weather. It’s something we practice on a regular basis throughout the year. We would urge people to exercise extreme caution in these areas – don’t get too close to the cliffs, they can collapse. This is particularly important in camp sites and along the north side of the island.”

 

  

 

supplied by HM Coastguard Sheppey