Beckett Rankine is delighted that members of our team have recently participated in a water safety course that provides life-saving skills on the Thames.
The award-winning Riverside Personal Safety Course equips participants with the skills to prevent drownings on the tidal Thames, by sharing the dangers of the river and the importance of deploying and maintaining life-saving equipment correctly.
Beckett Rankine’s maritime engineers spend considerable time on the water, both nationally and internationally. In 2022, we spent almost 2,500 hours on or beside the water while conducting surveys and other works; over half of this took place on the Thames.
While the course is focused on river safety on the Thames, the knowledge shared is transferable to locations across the UK and further afield. Whether a routine inspection of a Thames frontage or a new port development in Sierra Leone, a good understanding of how to maintain and deploy life-saving equipment is a critical skill.
In partnership with River Thames employers, the training course was developed by the Thames Skills Academy (TSA), working with training provider SeaRegs, the Port of London Authority (PLA), Transport for London and Tideway.
A number of our clients have also taken part in the course, which is held twice a month at the London Aquatic Centre in the Queen Elizabeth Park, Stratford and has seen over 1,500 participants since launching.
Tim Beckett, Director, said: “Maritime engineering inevitably requires our staff to spend a lot of time close to tidal waters. I am therefore delighted that this course is available as a practical and accessible way for enabling my team to stay safe, whether they are afloat, working on the foreshore or above the water on riverside structures. It’s reassuring for us and our clients to know that, once they have been on this course, our staff can confidently look after themselves and others while carrying out the important work we do.”
For Matthew Jennings, Graduate Engineer who took part, the experience was eye-opening. “The course was brilliant. I enjoyed the mixture of theoretical knowledge and getting hands-on in the pool for a realistic perspective. It’s useful not only for site inspections but also to further appreciate the importance of improving river safety in our projects right from the design stage. I feel more confident that I’d know how to react if someone were to need help when in the water and really recommend the course to anyone who spends time on the Thames.”
Read the Port of London Authority’s press release here
