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A new lifesaver hits the beach!
Losing site of a child on a crowded beach can be a nightmare
scenario, but now, thanks to a new safety scheme being piloted
this summer, kids can play and paddle more safely on West
Wittering Beach in Sussex.
The company behind the scheme, Child Safe Zones, are
working with West Wittering Beach to offer a unique service
that aims to help reunite lost children with their families
as quickly as possible
 The
Child Safe Zones Beach Scheme:
- On arrival at the beach parents are encouraged to ring
a Child Safe Beach telephone number, to listen to the latest
safety messages from the lifeguards. The same number is
then displayed up and down West Wittering beach, and will
put holidaymakers who are concerned about a lost or distressed
child, directly in touch with the lifeguards, who will help
them. The beach is divided into areas, each identified by
a letter displayed on the signs; this helps the lifeguards
to locate a caller quickly, and avoids parents moving away
from where they last saw their child.
- The use of waterproof wristbands is promoted. These are
designed to make sure children are carrying contact details
with them at all times, one of the best and quickest ways
to help reunite a lost child with their parents. The lifeguards
and beach and surf shops are distributing free wristbands.
- If a family has set up a Child Safe Family ID key contact
numbers, medical information and a photograph can be made
available via a 24 hour call centre. The Life Guards at
West Wittering can receive a photo of a missing child directly
from this call centre to a picture phone located in the
security office.
 David
Piper, Manager of the award winning Blue Flag beach, said
“These new wristbands are easy and comfortable to wear and
come in a range of bright colours, so the kids think they
are cool to wear. Being waterproof and secure, children can
still go in and out of the sea without the bands coming off
or getting torn and lost. The quicker we can locate a missing
child and return them to their parents the better it is for
everyone. This system gives us that ability.”
Steve Wills, Beach Safety and Education Manager, based at
the RNLI HQ, says, “The RNLI have been made aware of the Child
Safe Beach scheme and fully supports any service which helps
speed up the process of finding a lost child. The scheme is
also educating the public about the dangers on the beach,
which will ultimately reduce the number of deaths, and serious
accidents that occur each year. The RNLI is planning to visit
the pilot scheme this year to establish rolling the scheme
out onto RNLI life guarded beaches as well.”
Paul Kent from Child Safe Zones said “We have worked very
closely with parents, Shopping Centres and Town Centres in
the last 12 months to establish the benefits of Child Safe
Zones to families, and the places they visit. We now hope
that this pilot scheme will lead to many more UK beaches adopting
the scheme in 2005 to the benefit of many more families. Our
overall objective is to reduce anxiety for a child if they
are lost. Making sure that parents are aware of what to do
if they lose site of their child, wherever they are, and to
provide both families and family venues with tools to help
in the event a search becomes necessary”
A Child Safe Zones Family ID means a family can take the
benefit of the scheme wherever they travel, including abroad.
When a family registers they can securely store vital information
about their child, a photograph, emergency contact numbers,
and details of key medical information such as allergies or
medication. Parents can then access or authorise access to
the information, should it be needed, using a unique family
ID and password.
Once registered, should a child go missing, a call to the
Child Safe Zones 24 hour support centre will set a chain of
events into motion. An alert can be tied into a report from
someone finding the child; a missing poster can be created
and emailed to a specific location, or published on the web
site where it can automatically be translated into key European
languages if necessary.
Click here now to register with FamilySafePlus+.
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