Respect the Water is the RNLI’s national drowning prevention campaign.  It highlights the risks, helps people to avoid them and gives advice to keep people safe.
Respect the Water is at the heart of the RNLI’s prevention work, which is aimed at promoting safety advice to all who visit the coast, from walkers to commercial fishermen.  Around 190 people die each year at the UK and Irish coasts
The goal of the Respect the Water campaign is to halve the number of accidental coastal deaths by 2024.  The campaign aims to show those most at risk the potential dangers of water, to encourage them to reconsider their actions and adopt safer behaviour.
As an integral part of the Respect the Water campaign local Lifeboat Stations around the UK and Ireland have appointed Community Safety Officers tasked to develop their own Community Lifesaving Plans for the area and establish a team of Community Safety Advisers to implement those plans.
The Weymouth Lifeboat Area Community Lifesaving Plan has been developed over the past months and a team of eight volunteer Community Safety Advisers have been recruited to deliver the plan which covers an area extending roughly from St Albans Head in the east to Bridport in the west.
Their mission is to promote safe practices not just amongst the fishing, boating, sailing and diving fraternities but also amongst kayakers, stand-up paddle boarders, surfers and kite surfers, paragliders and even amongst those dog owners who walk their dogs along the beaches or the often fragile cliffs in the whole area from St Albans Head to West Bay. 
The aim is to target not only the various activity-centered clubs (whose members are usually among the more aware and safety-conscious), but particularly holidaymakers, day-trippers and other visitors who are often among the most vulnerable due to their lack of local knowledge as regards tides, unstable cliffs and beach safety generally.
The only way that these aims can realistically be achieved is by getting the support and co-operation of those at the tourism coalface – e.g. hoteliers, campsite operators, tourist attractions, bar staff at pubs and restaurant staff who come into contact with visitors to the Weymouth Lifeboat area virtually from the moment they arrive.
To help get the message across the RNLI provides a wealth of advice targeting specific types of activity from providing “Advice on Board” and “Calling for Help” sessions for individual boat owners, to distributing leaflets on beach safety, dog walking and angling both afloat and ashore.
The RNLI also provides useful safety items such as waterproof mobile phone wallets, floating key-rings etc.  All these items are available free of charge to organisations such as harbourmasters offices, chandlers, fishing tackle shops,  hotels, campsites, café’s, restaurants, pubs, clubs and other facilities frequented by holidaymakers and visitors to the area.
The RNLI Community Safety Officer, for Weymouth Lifeboat Area is Clive Edwards. He can be contacted on 01305 781725 or e-mail clivecgedwards@gmail.com

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