Flares Banned over Safety Fears

by Luke Salkeld,Mailonline/Sail-World on 8 Nov 2008 Coastguards in the United Kingdom have been banned from using flares in rescue missions after they were claimed to be a risk to health and safety. A spokesman for the Maritime and Coastguard Agency told Daily Mail that the devices, which are used to illuminate large areas of land and sea during night-time searches, could cause 'considerable injury'.

All 400 Coastguard rescue teams now have until the end of the year to use up their cache of flares or hand them over to the Ministry of Defence for disposal.

Volunteers have claimed the decision will put lives at risk because flares are essential for locating lost people and vessels in the dark.
One crewman said: 'This is the most stupid, ignorant thing I've heard of.

Flares light up the entire sky and aid rescue missions - something that obviously can't be done with a hand-held torch.

'This is over-zealous bosses bowing to health and safety nonsense - but they don't realise it could put people at risk.'

Tom Mullarkey, Chief Executive of the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents, also slammed the new ban. He called attempts by authorities to eliminate all element of danger from life as 'mindless', saying that the health and safety culture has 'gone too far'.
He insisted that individuals must retain the right to take risks so long as they do not injure others, and told safety experts that they will be accused of constructing a nanny state, adding that 'absolute safety' is an unattainable goal in any case.

A flare, also known as a fusee, can be shot into the air to heights of up to 700ft, illuminating vast areas of land or sea for up to two minutes at a time.
They have been used by the MCA since the First World War and deployed by Britain's 3,200 Coastguard volunteers in hundreds of rescue missions along the UK's 10,200 miles of coastline.

They require no legal licence to keep or fire, but the MCA - a government organisation which co-ordinates search and rescue missions - requires at least one volunteer in each crew to be certificated in their use.

But the MCA conducted a review earlier this year, which found no 'sound operational reason' for their continued use. It said 'operational pyrotechnics' were outdated and rarely deployed because of modern alternatives.

These include infra-red cameras, floodlights and night-vision goggles which are operated by the Coastguard's 12 helicopters across the UK. But there are fears among rescue teams who do not have immediate access to the helicopters and say torches do not match the illuminating power of flares.
Crews learned about the ban last week when the MCA contacted all 400 regional branches.

Last night an MCA spokesman told Daily Mail he was unaware of any incidents in which coastguard personnel had been injured using flares. But he added: 'We have suggested withdrawing the flares after a consultation with coastguard teams showed they are not being used. They are capable of causing considerable injury, and for that reason alone using safer alternatives is beneficial.'

However, another MCA Spokesman Mark Clark denied that the withdrawal was safety related. "It's got damn all to do with health and safety," he told Sail-World in an email, "and all to do with the lack of use of pyros any more.

"We're reviewing the policy and if we see that there is a limited use of pyros in certain circumstances, then we'll change the guidance. There are generally one or two members of the team who are certificated to use these heavy duty and hefty pyros."

The full text of the MCA's "Operational Advice Note" can be read by clicking here

Flares will still be used by the RNLI and by the Coastguard's ten vessels which operate in conjunction with lifeboat crews.