After a fatal shark bite last year, the government has committed to keeping local beaches safer.
The City of Mandurah has been thanked by Western Australian Local Government Association President Lynne Craigie for kick starting an important system focused on safety for beach goers this summer.
A fatal shark bite incident at Falcon in 2016 that claimed the life of Ben Gerring sparked an election promise by the McGowan Government to keep local beaches safer.
Councils from Geraldton to the South Australian border can now apply for Beach Emergency Numbers signage to give beachgoers vital location information for people to provide to emergency services when responding to serious incidents.
Mr Gerring’s brother Rick put forward the idea after concerns about possible delays in attending emergency services trying to locate the closest beach access point to the incident.
The locations of the uniquely coded signs will be recorded with emergency services and also include the street address and nearest cross street.
The WA Government will provide funding of up to $50,000 for regional councils to install the BEN signage system.
MLA David Templeman said Mandurah had already installed 80 of the signs and urged other councils to sign up for them.
"The BEN system will ensure that emergency services can easily locate a beachside incident and I am pleased to see that they are being made available this summer," he said.
Rick Gerring said for Ben’s legacy to be saving lives is a proud and humble moment.
"In any medical emergency seconds count, for a member of the public to tell emergency services the exact location will only improve response times and the patients’ chances of recovery," he said.
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