Twenty-four participants from the seafood sector undertook the BIM/RNLI Man Overboard challenge at the National Fisheries College in Greencastle on Valentine’s Day.
The drills took place in BIM’s new purpose-built sea survival pool, which simulates realistic sea conditions such as cold, dark water, wind and rain.
Each participant jumped into the challenging water conditions of the new pool with no Personal Floatation Device (PFD) to experience the harsh reality of trying to survive with no lifejacket. They then replicated this with a correctly fitted PFD, to experience first-hand the significant difference a device could make to their chance of survival in a real situation.
The course is delivered by Frankie Horne from the RNLI. He has seen over the years how this experience has effectively shifted people’s perspective on the importance of wearing their PFD.
“Nothing can change a mindset like a real-life experience, and once they have been in that water with no support from a PFD, people realise very quickly their chances of staying are greatly reduced,” Mr Horne said.
Garvan Meehan, Principal of the National Fisheries College in Greencastle, welcomed the attendees, emphasising that drills like Man Overboard and the Sea Survival course run by BIM are vital to ensure fishermen and anyone working at sea remain as safe as possible.
“We know that 82% of fishermen personally know someone who has been lost at sea. We also know that attending training of this nature substantially increases the chance that people will wear their PFD.”
Conor McCourt, Operations Manager with Foyle Fishermen’s Co-op, also took part in the training.
“I found the training highly informative and very well presented by Frankie and his colleagues at the RNLI,” Mr McCourt said.
“As a former fisherman, and as someone who now collaborates with fishermen daily, I understand how difficult it is to get this type of message across to people, who are experts at their job and have been forming habits over many years. However, I know that this training was impactful and will make a difference to those who attended.
During the training, there was reference to incidents involving people, who many in the room would have known, and I thought that was particularly effective. It was great to get to use the fantastic new pool facility at the BIM college for the challenge. I would recommend this course to any seafarer and would encourage as many fishermen as possible to try and attend if they get a chance in future”.
Main picture: Front row from left: Tony Browne, Orla Blake Dillion, Peter Kearney, (Jennifer Constants), Damien Harkin, (Niamh Cronan), Peter Quinn, ( Marie Rosetti), Mal Coney, (Sunset Pride), Andrew Carney, ( Red Sky), Laura Fitzpatrick, (Inishowen Boating) and Muireann Kavanagh, (St Anastasia).
Middle row from left: Paddy McGinty, (An Conilla), John Harkin, (Niamh Cronan) Patrick Quinn, Ciaran Nugent, (Sea Boat), Brian McConnell, (Northern Celt), Daniel Burns, (Northern Celt), Kevin George ( Northern Celt).
Back from Left: Ian Mannix, BIM, Francis Blake Dillion ( Achill Lifeboat), Will Quinn (Maria Rosetti) Matthew Kearney, (Kearney Oysters), Martin Quinn (Carndonagh), Oran Kearney, (Kearney Oysters) , Ivan McElhinney, (Emma Marie), Conor McCourty, ( Foyle Fishermen’s Co-Op), Hugh McClenaghan, (Northern Celt) Frank Horne, RNLI and Finn Mullen, RNLI. Photo Clive Wasson.
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