Source: Maritime New Zealand
In New Zealand there are more than 150,000 registered beacons. These are lifesaving tools to assist people if they get into trouble while undertaking activities in the great outdoors.
When someone needs assistance, they activate their beacon, which notifies the operations room at Maritime NZ’s Rescue Coordination Centre (RCCNZ).
Search and Rescue Officers then determine what action needs to be taken. The initial step is to check with the beacon’s emergency contact.
“If a search is required, we then decide which asset is best to help those in need,” Alex Taylor, Search and Rescue Officer, says.
With more beacons in use, there will be more that eventually need to be disposed of at the end of their useful lives.
“Over the last couple of years, we’ve seen an increase in the number of beacon activations after they have been disposed of.
“If a beacon is sent to the landfill with other everyday items, it can get knocked and activate.
“As with all activations it requires us to undertake steps to determine whether assistance is required. If it’s an inadvertent activation, such as what occurs at a landfill, this takes search and rescue officers away from other jobs where people may be in need or could send responders such as emergency helicopters to undertake a search,” Alex says.
This is why it’s important to both register your beacon, and to dispose of it appropriately when it comes to the end of its useful life.
This year alone, RCCNZ has had about three dozen activate from landfills up and down New Zealand.
“Fortunately, most landfill jobs can be closed off quickly, especially if the beacon has been registered. If it hasn’t, we’re unable to ask the owner whether it’s been disposed of, which means we may progress search and rescue action unnecessarily, as there is a chance someone could require our help,” Alex says.
If you’ve finished using your beacon, please send it to RCCNZ for disposal. To find out how to register your beacon and where to send it for disposal, go to beacons.org.nz.
