Environment understanding, signage perception and safety education in Biscay beachgoers under the view of lifeguards

Characteristics and beach safety knowledge of beachgoers on unpatrolled surf beaches in Australia

“…In the absence of lifeguarding services a common beach safety intervention is the use of warning signs alerting beachgoers of various hazards, or to the fact that the beach is unpatrolled. However, several studies have shown that beach safety signs are not necessarily as effective as authorities may assume (Matthews et al, 2014;Brannstrom et al, 2015;Houser et al, 2017;Sotés et al, 2020). Ultimately, many rescues on unpatrolled beaches are conducted by surfers (Attard et al, 2015;Berg et al, 2021) and other bystanders (Brander et al, 2019;Franklin et al, 2019).…”

Surfers as aquatics rescuers in Portugal and Spain: Characteristics of rescues and resuscitation knowledge

“…Our results show that the majority of victims were in danger because they were caught in a rip current. A previous investigation found that 75% of rescues performed by surfers were related to rip currents [ 5 ], demonstrating they are one of the main hazards on beaches [ [22] , [23] , [24] , [25] , [26] , [27] , [28] , [29] ]. However, both in Spain and Portugal there is little information about rip currents on beaches.…”

“…However, both in Spain and Portugal there is little information about rip currents on beaches. Previous studies carried out on the Spanish Atlantic coast in different populations found that the majority of teenagers and adults did not know what rip currents were and had never heard of them [ 23 , 30 ]. In contrast, surfers have demonstrated adequate knowledge of rip currents [ 23 ].…”

Awareness without learning: A preliminary study exploring the effects of beachgoer's experiences on risk taking behaviours

“…While risk prevention practices on Australian beaches focus on patrolled locations through supervising flagged locations and the 'Nippers' program that provides coastal water safety skills to children aged 5-14 years (Calverley et al, 2021), awareness raising via warning signs remains the most common form of community engagement at unpatrolled beaches (Uebelhoer et al, 2022). This is despite the known limitations that beach warning signs have on behaviour change (Brannstrom et al, 2015;Houser et al, 2017;Matthews et al, 2014;Sot es et al, 2020). This highlights the need to extend the impacts of community engagements at patrolled beaches towards risk mitigation strategies that prioritize learning and capacity building (i.e., skill) instead of continuing to assume that raising public awareness of risk will result in lasting behaviour change.…”