ABP WARNING TO CHILDREN: “DON’T BE A HEADLINE. DON’T BE A STATISTIC”
Associated British Ports (ABP), the UK’s largest and leading ports group, has launched a summer safety-awareness campaign to warn children of the dangers they face if they swim in the Company’s docks and harbours. Out of concern for the communities that surround its ports, ABP is spreading the message that, not only is swimming in the docks illegal, it can also result in serious injury or even death.
As the heatwave during the summer holidays inevitably heralds an increase in children attempting to swim wherever they can, ABP decided to provide local schools with ‘hard-hitting’ posters and leaflets that warn of the hazards of this activity before they broke up for the summer holiday. The information was provided to some 150 schools within a five-mile radius of the Company’s ports. To further enforce the message, ABP’s safety managers gave their time to speak to children directly, during school assemblies.
Bo Lerenius, ABP’s Group Chief Executive, explains: “We are trying to prevent behaviour that is a serious cause of concern for everyone involved, not just for parents, but also for everyone working at the port.”
He added: “The children must understand that swimming in the dock is acutely dangerous – the water is deep, cold and unpredictable. It is not like a swimming pool, with lifeguards and safety systems in place and it is potentially contaminated with discharges from ships and industrial processes, and Weil’s disease from rats in the water. The only way to be safe is to avoid it altogether.”
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