Plant&Equipment

Special report
Friend or Foe! All Terrain Vehicles
In the last two issues of PEP I discussed two types
of RNLI launch vehicle – the Talus MBH tractor
and the Talus MB-4H tractor. Those who read the
articles would have appreciated just how specialised
these launch vehicles have to be to do the job asked
of them.
However, it is not only specialised tractors that the
RNLI uses to launch boats with. At some of the
RNLI inshore lifeboat stations (ILB), small compact
tractors are used, especially if the beach condition
is soft or steep gradients have to be negotiated. But
where conditions allow, i.e. flat launch areas and
firm conditions, the RNLI use All Terrain Vehicles
(ATV), Quad Bikes, to launch boats.
The RNLI also uses ATV’s for beach lifeguards.
This is mainly for the purpose of conveying their
kit, Arancia inflatable boats and jet skies, down to
the water’s edge, but on some larger beaches they
are used to patrol the water’s edge, as they allow
the lifeguard to get to the incident quickly saving
valuable minutes and in some cases lives.
The RNLI has in service over 80 ATV’s around our
coast with the vast majority being with the Beach
Lifeguards, covering beaches from Boscombe in
Dorset right around the south coast and up as far
North Devon.
Those of you who have used these machines, or
are involved in the training or the safety side, will
appreciate just how dangerous they can be. Just
type ATV into the HSE’s website and you will see
vast amounts of safety information and sadly the
numbers of operators killed or seriously injured.
These machines, like any other machine in untrained
hands, are dangerous. Many people have an
unfortunate misconception about Quad bikes; they
think that because they have four wheels, large
knobbly tyres and a big seat they are stable, safe,
easy machines to ride but nothing could be further
from the truth. The fact is that anybody that operates
ATV’s needs specialist training. That training in
the RNLI’ s case fell down to me before I retired as
Machinery Training Instructor.
Without sounding disrespectful to our younger
generation, I had a reasonably hard task teaching
young men and women lifeguards how to stay safe
on these bikes. I knew that I had been just the same
at their age, wanting to see how fast they could go
or how steep a hill they could climb, so the first thing
I had to do was to explain just how dangerous these
machines could be.
I would start a training session by showing the
excellent HSE video, ‘Riding for Fall’. This video quite
38
February 2008