Jersey Water Safety Forum

The Jersey Water Safety Forum met at Jersey Airport yesterday, for the first time this year. The meeting, which was chaired by the Harbour Master, brought together members of Jersey’s search and rescue community to exchange ideas on working efficiently together, and to better understand each other’s operations. The group was given a tour of the Channel Islands Air Search plane, which was flown here for the meeting.

Key areas of discussion included: the high number of people getting cut off by tide recently, the use of Drones to enhance search techniques, and interoperability between assets.

Harbour Master Captain Bill Sadler said: “The meeting was very positive and getting together to understand each other’s working methods can only benefit our search and rescue operations. It was especially useful to see the Channel Islands Air Search aircraft, which was flown here from Guernsey, so we could all have a tour of their aircraft and learn about its capabilities.”

The forum now intends to meet four times a year.

The meeting was attended by:

• Jersey Coastguard
• RNLI
• Jersey Lifeboat Association
• States of Jersey Police
• States of Jersey Fire and Rescue Service
• Government of Jersey
• Air Rescue Drone Team
• Channel Islands Air Search

Background

The Jersey Water Safety Forum was formed in 2017 and reflects the remit of the National Water Safety Forum – which is a voluntary network, working together to reduce water-related deaths and associated harm.