Safety procedures
To properly rescue a person at sea, adopt the following safety procedures:
- keep calm;
- if you spot a person in difficulty at sea, throw them the lifebuoy that is on board;
- get any other security equipment ready for use, including: lifebuoy, first aid kit, distress signal kit (smoke buoy, red hand flares), sound signaling devices (whistle), life raft, etc.;
- try to keep the person in need of assistance in sight (by organizing a “lookout service”);
- if the person has fallen overboard, execute the standard man overboard recovery maneuver (Butakoff, Wiliamson, etc.);
- do not expose yourself to danger in attempting to rescue the person concerned;
- try to lift the person onto the boat, only if it is safe to do so;
- if you are at the beach, call the lifeguard;
- call 1 1 2 and contact the Coast Guard by radio (distress frequency VHF channel 16) providing the requested information, including:: position, distance from the coast, current weather and sea conditions event dynamics (person “adrift” in need of assistance, person fallen into the sea from the rocks, fallen from the edge, surfer/kitesurfer/diver in difficulty, etc.), characteristics of the person rescued (specify whether elderly, woman, child), whether injured, conscious or not, his/her clothing, whether still in sight or not, whether wearing a life jacket, position of last sighting, actions taken, etc.;
- follow the rescuers’ instructions.
