Memorandum by the Royal National Lifeboat
Institution (SAR 09)
SEARCH AND RESCUE
1. INTRODUCTION
The Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI)
was founded in 1824 and incorporated by Royal Charter in 1860.
The Charter of Incorporation granted to the
RNLI in 1860 referred to the original object of the RNLI being
met by the establishment of "efficient lifeboats on the points
of the coasts of Great Britain and Ireland most exposed to shipwreck,
and organising and training crews ready to man the lifeboats at
all times in case of wreck".
Nearly 145 years later the basic requirement
is much the same except that the pattern of sea use has seen great
change. Pleasure craft account for the majority of lifeboat services
to vessels and all weather and inshore lifeboats are located on
a "fixed point" basis where an operational requirement
exists.
2. PURPOSE
The purpose of the Royal National Lifeboat Institution
is to save lives, promote safety and provide relief from disaster
at sea and, secondly, to save lives, promote safety and provide
relief from disaster on inland waters. The work of the Institution
is primarily carried out in and around the United Kingdom, Isle
of Man, Channel Islands and the Republic of Ireland.
3. CONCEPT OF
OPERATIONS
The RNLI saves lives at sea throughout the United
Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland by providing:
— a strategically located fleet of
all weather lifeboats which are available at all times and tactically
placed inshore craft which are subject to weather limitations;
— a Beach Lifeguard service on a seasonal
basis where appropriate; and
— safety education and accident prevention,
to a defined standard of performance, commensurate
with the resources available, using trained and competent people
who, wherever possible, are volunteers.
4. STRATEGIC
PERFORMANCE STANDARDS
The RNLI aims to:
— Achieve an average launch time of
10 minutes from notification to the RNLI.
— Reach all notified casualties where
a risk to life exists, in all weathers, out to a maximum of 100
nautical miles.
— Reach at least 90% of all casualties
within 10 nautical miles of Lifeboat stations within 30 minutes
of launch in all weathers.
— Reach any beach casualty up to 300m
from shore within the flags on RNLI lifeguard patrolled beaches,
within 3½ minutes.
5. TARGETS AND
TARGET SETTING
Key Performance Indicators are set to measure
the RNLI's overall effectiveness and Performance Indicators are
set for each business area of the RNLI by which the effectiveness
of elements of our work may be measured and benchmarked.
The Indicators are regularly reviewed as part
of the Business Planning Process and through the RNLI's Quarterly
Performance Review. Targets are set to be Specific, Measurable,
Achievable, Realistic and Trackable within a timescale.
Operational targets include:
| Achieving station target call out times
| 80% |
| Availability of station lifeboats | 90%
|
| Percentage of casualties within 10 miles of lifeboat Station reached within 30 minutes
| 90% |
| Percentage of non effective services less than
| 40% |
| Percentage availability of crew call out system
| 99% |
| % unscheduled lifeboat off service time |
0.25% |
| |
6. LIFEBOAT FLEET
The RNLI operates a fleet of lifeboats mainly with volunteer
crew. There are approximately 4,500 volunteer crew members and
219 full time lifeboat crew members (This figure includes 30 full
time crew at three of the River Thames lifeboat stations). In
addition there are 1,100 enrolled volunteer shore helpers, to
assist with the launching of lifeboats and 1,760 volunteer lifeboat
Station Branch Officials who provide the management infrastructure
at the individual lifeboat stations.
The capital cost of lifeboats range from £25,000 for
a D class inshore lifeboat to £2,000,000 for a Tamar class
all weather lifeboat.
The current number of lifeboat stations is 233 operating
332 lifeboats and the RNLI fleet comprises:
128 All weather station lifeboats supported by 40
relief lifeboats.
208 Inshore station lifeboats (including 4 hovercraft)
supported by 96 relief inshore lifeboats (including one hovercraft).
In 2003, RNLI lifeboats/hovercraft were launched, on service,
8,109 times and rescued 7,987 persons. In the same year RNLI lifeboats
saved/brought in craft to the value of £86 million.
All lifeboat services are co-ordinated by the Maritime and
Coastguard Agency who are responsible for initiating and co-ordinating
all civil maritime Search and Rescue measures for vessels and
persons in need of assistance in the UK Search and Rescue Region.
Although requests to launch will normally come from the Coastguard
Co-ordination Centre, Lifeboat Operations Managers have discretion
to launch a lifeboat in response to a report received from any
other source, that a vessel and/or lives are in danger. If this
is the case the Co-ordination Centre will be advised at the earliest
opportunity.
In 2003, of the calls received by the Coastguard, requesting
a rescue vessel, RNLI lifeboats responded to 87%.
7. CHARITABLE STATUS
The RNLI is an independent charity that relies on voluntary
donations to run its service. In 2003 the total cost for running
the RNLI was £110.4 million. The Institution receives no
money from HM Government.
8. RECENT ADDITIONS
TO SERVICE
PROVISION
Inland Waters
In 2000 Inland Waters were identified as an area where the
RNLI could help save more lives. A number of possible locations
from which to operate a lifeboat were identified and to date three
RNLI lifeboat stations have been established at Enniskillen (Northern
Ireland), Oulton Broads (Suffolk) and Lough Derg (Republic of
Ireland).
Hovercraft
In 2000 Hovercraft were identified as having a role to play
in the SAR Operations of the RNLI. A feasibility study was conducted
and a hovercraft developed specifically for RNLI use. To date,
RNLI hovercraft operate from Morecambe, Hunstanton, Southend and
New Brighton. They have proved their worth in operating in areas
of sand and mud where it is impossible for lifeboats to gain access
due to lack of water.
River Thames
On 2 January 2002 the RNLI established four lifeboat stations
(Gravesend, Tower Pier, Chiswick and Teddington). This was in
response to a request from the Maritime and Coastguard Agency
following the "Marchioness" disaster and the findings
of the subsequent Thames Safety Inquiry conducted by Lord Justice
Clark. In 2003 Thames lifeboats carried out 731 services rescuing
273 persons.
Beach Lifeguarding
An RNLI Beach Lifeguarding service was established in 2001
with the aim to save more lives. The RNLI, in its honest broker
role, was able to bring a standard approach to the provision of
a beach lifeguard service on our beaches. In 2004 the RNLI operated
57 lifeguard units in the South and South West of England employing
300 lifeguards. The local District Councils make a subvention
to the RNLI towards the cost of providing this service.
The aim of the RNLI Beach Lifeguard service is to contribute
significantly to safety on beaches. Although this is achieved
principally through prevention and education in the four years
since the RNLI introduced its Beach Lifeguard service, 2,779 persons
have been rescued and in total, including first aid incidents,
27,384 persons assisted.
9. AREAS OF
CONCERN
(a) Volunteers
Issue
The RNLI undertakes to do everything it can to look after
its volunteers properly and provides them with safe, modern and
efficient lifeboats and equipment, excellent training and the
best support possible in the event of injury.
This duty of care together with the demands of EC legislation,
Health and Safety Regulations and training requirements is making
it more difficult to maintain our voluntary ethos. There is a
trend in today's increasingly litigious society, for people, whom
we regard as volunteers and who regard themselves as volunteers,
to seek recourse to Employment Tribunals to resolve local issues.
The Employment Tribunals do not seem to draw any distinction between
volunteers and employees. The RNLI consider this to be wrong and
would like the volunteer vs. employee status issue resolved.
Reliance upon volunteers
The RNLI relies on volunteers and voluntary contributions
to operate its lifesaving service. There are over 7,000 volunteers
involved in operational roles at lifeboat stations. These include
lifeboat crew members, shorehelpers, who help to launch and recover
lifeboats and others who provide the management at a lifeboat
station.
The number of volunteers involved in active fundraising,
on behalf of the RNLI, is approximately 30,000, although this
number ebbs and flows as many involve themselves in specific fundraising
efforts, such as running a marathon as a one-off fundraising contribution.
Of this 30,000, many are members of the 1,163 RNLI Fundraising
Branches or Guilds.
At the majority of locations the lifeboat station plays an
important part in community life and the volunteers are drawn
from the local community. In the case of volunteer crew, it is
a prerequisite that they live or work within close proximity of
the lifeboat station in order that they can respond quickly to
service calls. Crew members are almost invariably drawn from local
volunteers attracted and committed to the cause of saving lives
at sea.
The voluntary ethos serves the RNLI well and it would not
be possible to provide the same level of service without volunteers.
The voluntary ethos is the great strength of the Institution as
it attracts talented and committed people from all walks of life
who would not be available to the service if they were required
in a full time paid capacity. The RNLI is investing a considerable
amount of time and effort in improving support to staff working
with and managing volunteers.
Volunteer costs
If it became necessary to replace volunteers with full time
lifeboat crews, then the costs would escalate markedly to provide
the same level of service. The likely outcome would be a reduction
in the number of lifeboat stations and as a consequence a reduction
in the lifeboat cover provided. This would place more sea users
at risk. As an example of the costs involved the salary related
payments at Chiswick (River Thames Lifeboat Station), which is
operated by full time crewmembers, is £326,000 per year against
a standard volunteer lifeboat station where allowances, of £6,000
are provided. (For example for personal equipment maintenance.)
The volunteer is our most valuable resource and there is
a great deal to be gained through volunteer expertise and knowledge.
The link to the local community is also powerful and provides
the flexibility to provide a lifeboat service within a community
network.
Training costs
At the majority of the 233 lifeboat stations there are facilities
for crew training and at Poole the new "Lifeboat College",
complete with Survival Centre has recently been built and commissioned.
As well as providing classrooms and conference and study facilities
the Lifeboat College provides a 60-room hotel for those attending
courses. In 2003 the cost of operational training was approximately
£4 million.
Operational training courses are, wherever possible, benchmarked
against recognised external courses except where the expertise
in the subject matter rests with the RNLI. The process of assessment
for competence training is accredited through the National Award
Scheme and the delivery of the majority of RNLI courses result
in the award of external accreditation. Where competence based
training contributes to the operational effectiveness and safety
of lifeboat operations, members of the RNLI's Inspectorate, who
are all professional mariners, monitor it regularly.
Other operational costs
In 2003 the RNLI's equipment running costs were £42.1
million. (Running costs include operational maintenance costs
and depreciation of equipment and shoreworks).
10. BEACH SAFETY
RESPONSIBILITIES
Issue
The issue is: Who is responsible for safety on beaches? The
RNLI provides a lifeguard service on 57 beaches and the Local
Authorities make a subvention towards the costs of providing this
service.
Some Local Authorities are now taking the view that they
do not have responsibility for safety on the beaches in their
area (this includes private beaches) and therefore assert that
funding the lifeguard service is not their responsibility. The
RNLI would like this issue of responsibility to be resolved, nationally,
as a matter of urgency as it is creating uncertainty as to the
continuance of current services and its resolution is also a pre-requisite
to any further widening of its Beach Lifeguard service in the
UK.
RNLI Beach Lifeguards—Background
The RNLI became involved in Beach Lifeguarding in order to
save more lives as there are over 200 beach related deaths reported
each year. Beaches are considered to be one of our great natural
resources, however there has never been a statutory duty to provide
a lifeguard service and this has led to a lack of a co-ordinated
approach from local and national government.
Traditionally the main providers of volunteer beach lifeguarding
in the UK have been the Surf Life Saving Association of Great
Britain (SLSA) and the Royal Life Saving Society UK (RLSS). Historically,
the formation of a lifesaving club with voluntary patrols had
been in response to a perceived local need, often as a result
of loss of life.
The number of visitors attracted to beaches has resulted
in many, but by no means all, Local Authorities (LAs) employing
seasonal lifeguards to provide a lifeguard service throughout
the summer season. This is done with the LA as the "beach
operator", on the basis of a "Duty of Care" that
the operator accepts by encouraging access to the foreshore for
the purposes of recreational bathing. However, because there is
no statutory requirement to provide a lifeguard service this has
led to the creation of a non-unified, LA specific lifeguard service
with no national agreement on standard signage, uniform, patrol
hours, equipment, training or communications.
In recent years, the voluntary life saving bodies and the
professional lifeguards themselves have become increasingly disillusioned
with the lack of investment and in many cases the reduction in
expenditure, in the lifeguard service and beach safety.
This led to the RNLI becoming involved in an attempt to improve
and standardise the service on the basis that it does so on behalf
of Local Government. The RNLI is content to do this but not to
wholly pay for the service that it provides. The cost of providing
seasonal lifeguards must rest with the local authorities.
11. IRRECOVERABLE VAT
Issue
During 2003 the RNLI incurred additional costs of £3.9
million in respect of irrecoverable VAT. The RNLI believes that
as a charity devoted to saving lives that it should be able to
recover all VAT charges.
January 2005
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