Date and Location

7th-8th Sept 2026 – Staveley, Kendal

About

Our Rescue 3 Safe Working In Water (SWIW) course is designed for people tasked with working in water who will need a self and co-worker rescue capability using conditional rescue techniques, eg throwbags, wading techniques and reach poles. The target audience might be those who work as ecologists construction industry workers, road and bridge maintenance workers, arborists, built environment consultants etc

Example clients include:

• Natural England
• SEPA
• Atkins
• JBA Consulting
• Lowther Forestry
• Eden Rivers Trust
• Biological Research Association
• The Atlantic Salmon Trust
• Buglife
• Volker

Course content:

Theory

• Workplace legislation
• Safe systems of work
• Risk assessments
• Pre-planning for emergencies and rescue
• Hydrology and water hazards
• Cold water considerations
• Mud, ice and coastal considerations
• Biosecurity and environmental considerations
• Medical and decontamination considerations
• Lifejackets vs. buoyancy aids
• Buoyancy aid and lifejacket maintenance, periodic inspection and transportation
• Lifejacket firing mechanisms
• Lifejacket accidental inflation risks
• Personal and team equipment
• Considerations for night/poor visibility working
• Communications

Practical

• Pre- and post-use lifejacket checks
• Lifejacket inflation and deflation – auto/manual
• Swimming and self-rescue in lifejackets
• Swimming and self-rescue in buoyancy aids
• Throwbags and other conditional rescues
• Shallow water techniques
• Tethered shallow water techniques
• Strainers
• People and equipment entrapments