Royal Life Saving Society’s (RLSS) water safety top tips:
- When arriving at the destination if you haven’t yet done so, check the safety arrangements of any water-based activities and if there is lifeguard cover at the beach
- Check bathing sites for hazards, check the safest places to swim and always read the signs – find out what local warning signs and flags mean
- Make sure the whole family can swim
- Swim with any children in your care – it’s more fun and you can keep them close and safe
- Never swim alone
- Never enter the water after drinking alcohol
- Check when the tide will be high and low to ensure that you will not be cut off from the beach exit by the rising tide
- Be aware of dangerous rip-currents
- Inflatable dinghies or lilos are a well-known hazard – each year there are drownings as people on inflatables are blown out to sea. Do not use them in open water
- Do not swim near to or dive from rocks, piers, breakwater or coral
- Swim parallel to the beach and close to the shore
For more information on Tendring’s seafronts and beaches log on to www.tendringdc.gov.uk
Royal Life Saving Society (RLSS) www.rlss.org.uk