New addition at Cairngorms' most popular beauty spot is aimed at saving lives
An innovative piece of water rescue equipment which is well and truly aimed at helping to save lives has been unveiled at a popular Strathspey beauty spot.
The specialist Portsafe board has been installed by the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service (SFRS) at Loch Morlich at Glenmore and is one of the first of its kind in Scotland.
Designed to reduce the vandalism or theft of life-saving equipment, the board uses a coded padlock system to protect a water rescue throwline contained within the safe.
In the event of an emergency, a member of the public can call 999 and quote their location.
They will then obtain a code from SFRS’ operations control to open the board and access the water rescue throwline.
Loch Morlich’s Portsafe board will be the first of three to be introduced at sites across the Highlands. The others will be installed in the near future at Dores Beach and within Inverness city centre by the Ness.
SFRS Watch Commander James Monaghan helped to organise its installation and was at the official launch at the Cairngorms beauty spot.
Some visitors to the beach got the chance to try their arm.
Mr Monaghan said: “Sadly, we occasionally do see the theft or misuse of water rescue equipment across Scotland which is why having access to Portsafe boards is so important.
“Ultimately we would always ask people to avoid entering the water to rescue someone in difficulty and to immediately call 999 but there’s no doubt that providing ordinary people with the skills and equipment to intervene in an emergency can help to save lives.
“That is why we are absolutely committed to sharing knowledge with businesses and members of the public on how to correctly use equipment like Portsafe boards and water rescue throwlines.”
• For further information on how to remain safe around water visit can be found here
Water-based deaths decreased in 2022, reports Water Safety Scotland
The latest figures from the Water Incident Database (WAID) indicate that drowning fatalities in 2022 decreased in Scotland.
The database, which is maintained by the National Water Safety Forum (NWSF) and focuses on gathering information related to water-based incidents, also shows a decrease in accidental drownings last year.
The figures show that there were 45 accidental water-related fatalities in Scotland.
This forms part of the total water-related fatalities in Scotland which stands at 96 for last year.
Carlene McAvoy, Founder of WSS and the Data Subgroup Chair, said: “The recent figures for accidental water-related fatalities shows a 10 per cent decrease in comparison to the SDPS baseline – bringing the number of accidental water-related fatalities back down after a particular difficult year in 2021.
“WSS continues to work hard and has taken a number of significant steps to help reduce accidental water-related fatalities, including the introduction of the Drowning and Incident Review (DIR), the creation of free education resources for teachers and practitioners, and free consistent water safety messaging for partners to use across Scotland.”
DIR is a new process introduced in Scotland which aims to gather all relevant data and information in order to systematically and rigorously review each accidental water-related incident with a view to preventing a future occurrence.
