Council nets water safety award

CORK County Council has won an annual award which recognises the work of local authorities in promoting water safety.  

The Charles Thomson Award is presented by Irish Water Safety (IWS) and its organisers praised the Council in particular the style of education which encouraged independent thinking in children, their focus on ring buoys, how to use them and why not to vandalise them with new locations identified for ring buoy provision was also highlighted.

County Mayor Cllr Declan Hurley, Cork County Council’s chief executive Tim Lucey, together with the Council’s water and road safety development officer Caroline Casey were presented with the award at a ceremony in Dublin.

They were also complimented for introducing new water safety signage and information at bathing locations and along waterways, its promotion of water safety across Cork communities and its beach safety leaflets available at beachguard stations and tourist offices around the county.  The Council also issued copies to schools.

Mayor Hurley said: ‘We have been actively focusing on a template of safety signage for all beaches. We have set out to improve water safety with the piers and harbours being one of our areas of focus in 2016.  We also allocate at least one inspector from engineering areas to inspect ring buoys, all of which is just a flavour of some of our undertakings.’

Caroline Casey, said: ‘I’m thrilled to receive such national recognition for the work we have carried out and will continue to do so. Keeping children under supervision around water is a must.  Teaching them how to risk assess hazards and potential dangerous situations will assist in enhancing their personal safety skills which will serve them well throughout their lives.’

Tim Lucey paid tribute to the creative and engaging manner in which Caroline has impacted upon Cork children: ‘Caroline has worked tirelessly on a series of educational initiatives in schools including water safety board games, a farm safety book, water safety workshops, school safety days, established junior water safety officers as well as the Cork County Council water safety awareness flag which now hangs proudly outside 123 schools.’