{"id":30029,"date":"2024-03-19T11:06:34","date_gmt":"2024-03-19T01:06:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/infrastructuremagazine.com.au\/?p=51635"},"modified":"2024-03-19T11:06:34","modified_gmt":"2024-03-19T01:06:34","slug":"new-emergency-response-beacons-planned-for-nsw-coast","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/?p=30029","title":{"rendered":"New Emergency Response Beacons planned for NSW coast"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The New South Wales Government has announced plans to install ten new Emergency Response Beacons (ERBs) along its coast over the course of 2024, in response to an increase in coastal drownings over the past few years.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The expansion of emergency response infrastructure comes after the Minister for Emergency Services, Jihad Dib, convened a roundtable on coastal safety earlier in March.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The ERBs, supplied by specialist equipment provider Spectur, directly connect callers to Surf Life Saving NSW\u2019s State Operations Centre, enabling the rapid deployment of lifesaving and emergency services to a potential rescue site. This can drastically reduce response times, particularly in unpatrolled or isolated areas.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">At least ten new ERB units are planned to be installed at the following locations in 2024, subject to council or land manager approvals:<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Mid North Coast: Scotts Head<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Central Coast: Spoon Bay, Fraser Park, Forresters Beach<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Hunter: Moonee Beach<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Northern Beaches: Turrimetta, North Palm Beach<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Illawarra: Austinmer, Woonoona, Bulli<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The new beacons, which are the first of 32 to be delivered over the next four years, are part of the NSW Government\u2019s record $23 million additional investment in Surf Life Saving NSW.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">As part of this funding, the State Government is also delivering 67 jet skis over four years, with 14 already delivered to beaches along the state\u2019s coastline. Jet skis are highly manoeuvrable and can easily be deployed to perform rescues.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The roundtable held in early March considered the latest data on high risk drowning locations along the state\u2019s coastline, with the locations of the new ERBs based on this data, rescue statistics and consultation with key stakeholders.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The New South Wales Government said that addressing the number of coastal deaths in unpatrolled and isolated locations is a priority, along with reaching more communities with important water safety messages. Discussions at the roundtable highlighted concerns about whether these messages are well understood by all beachgoers.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">New South Wales Minister for Emergency Services, Jihad Dib, said that ERBs are already being used successfully in coastal locations, including at Forster this summer when a beacon was instrumental in supporting the rescue of individuals caught in a rip current.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cThe evidence is clear \u2013 this technology works, and we know it will make a key contribution to preventing drownings on our coastline,\u201d Mr Dib said.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cThe beacons use technology that overcomes connectivity limitations, or \u2018black spots\u2019, in remote areas, providing a reliable option in an emergency.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cA day at the beach shouldn\u2019t turn into a disaster, and this is one of several measures the New South Wales Government is taking to help ensure more people get home safely.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Chief Executive of Surf Life Saving NSW, Steve Pearce, said that there are currently 32 ERBs positioned along the coast, and they are proving their worth in allowing the public to immediately alert responders to incidents and emergencies.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cWe are looking at enhancements to the next generation of ERBs which could include having public rescue equipment attached to the units that people could use to keep themselves safe if they attempt a rescue.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cIt\u2019s all about using technology to improve how we respond to coastal incidents and, in the end, save more lives along the coast.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p>Spectur Managing Director Dr Gerard Dyson said\u00a0\u201cSpectur is pleased to be a long term partner of SLS NSW and part of making our communities safer, smarter and more sustainable.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;We have seen countless situations where these Emergency Response Beacons have been connecting life savers to critical situations that are not \u2018between the flags\u2019, saving lives.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;We look forward to continuing to roll out these solutions around the country and are working closely with our partners to expand the ways that technology can complement and extend the human life saving resources that our communities have.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The New South Wales Government has announced plans to install ten new Emergency Response Beacons (ERBs) along its coast over [\u2026]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":13,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[471,2251,8214,1291,163,8225,8211,8203],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-30029","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","category-nsw","category-planning","category-projects","category-rail-industry-news-australia-new-zealand","category-risk-management","category-safety-and-training","category-spotlight"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30029","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/13"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=30029"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30029\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":37937,"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30029\/revisions\/37937"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=30029"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=30029"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=30029"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}