DALES RESCUE TEAMS’ AWARENESS CAMPAIGN

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Pick up your handy information cards where you see the dispensers
- know how to request help when you need it

Many people visiting the Yorkshire Dales don’t know how to get help if there is an accident or if someone is missing or overdue. That’s the claim of the three volunteer search and rescue teams which provide a safety net for walkers, cavers, climbers, casual visitors and others who venture out into the Dales countryside. So the teams – Cave Rescue Organisation, Upper Wharfedale Fell Rescue Association and Swaledale Mountain Rescue Team are taking the initiative with a major campaign to help people get it right if they need help away from a metalled road. The campaign has received practical and financial support from North Yorkshire Police and the Yorkshire Dales National Park Authority

 Seasoned outdoors people know that when you ring 999 for a rescue team, you should ask for ‘Police’, then ask them for mountain or cave rescue. Often, in that fraught time immediately after an accident, less experienced people can ask for an ambulance, without thinking – and sometimes without telling the ambulance service dispatcher about the remoteness or inaccessibility of the site where help is needed. So, the teams have published advice on a card that folds to credit-card size and fits easily into a wallet or the first aid kit that every party should carry.

The three teams are putting posters and card dispensers into 300 outlets around the area, where outdoor retailers, accommodation providers and attraction or information centre operators are prepared to help their local team to promote the campaign. Essentially, the message is that if you need help, beyond the road network, you probably need a rescue team. In that case, call ‘999’ ask for ‘Police’ and ask them for ‘mountain rescue’ or ‘cave rescue’ – the effect is the same. If using a mobile, it is helpful to say which county you are in, as 999 operators may not have an intimate knowledge of rural England and calls from high points may go some miles to reach a phone mast. If you have a map, it is important to give both grid reference and a verbal description of where you are, as numbers alone may easily be mis-heard. After that, answer any other questions, stay by the phone and where you have a signal and keep the line clear so you can be called back.

As well as search and rescue, above and below ground, all three teams have safety education included in their charitable purposes The amount of information that will fit on the card is limited, so the next step is to provide links from each team’s web-site to additional sites for sources of safety advice or providers of outdoor training.

Tradespeople willing to display an A4 poster and/or a card dispenser, should please e-mail goingout@cro.org.uk as should secretaries of outdoor activity clubs who would like to give a card to each of their members.

NOTES

Publication of the posters and cards was made possible by a 50% grant from the Yorkshire Dales National Park Authority, which has an interest in people’s understanding and enjoyment of this special area, while the design work and printing were contributed at nett cost by the Print & Design Unit of North Yorkshire Police.

PDF Downloads:   Poster 1      Poster 2    Card