Emergencies on the water can happen at any moment. As the old saying goes, “hope for the best, but prepare for the worst.” There’s a real responsibility boat and dock owners in particular have to ensure the safety of their family and guests when spending time on the water. Rather than see this as a liability to lose sleep over, instead take the necessary steps to improve your water emergency preparedness. We have five steps from choosing the right boat dock hardware to tools that come in handy in a moment of crisis. Let’s go over these essential tips to ensure you have a safe summer.
Five Tips for Water Emergency Preparedness
Whether you’re new to regular water recreation or a long-time host to many gatherings, there are some crucial things to know about water safety. In the case of an emergency, your preparedness and response time could truly be the difference between saving someone’s life and an unnecessary loss. It’s a grim topic, but it’s a serious subject worth exploring.
From having the right tools to ensuring you purchase the small things like boat dock ladders and life-preserving equipment, these five improvements you can make to your water emergency preparedness will ensure you’re ready for anything.
Minimize Accidents Before They Occur
One of the most crucial ways to increase your safety compliance near the water is to ensure you’re minimizing accidents before they occur. That sounds easier said than done, but it’s often something as little as having guests take caution on boat dock floats or having children always under the supervision of at least one adult. These small steps can make big differences to your water emergency preparedness.
Update your Equipment
From the big things like safety measures like door latches on your boat to installing new boat dock bumpers, some people tend to get what they need when they start boating and then never make updates. While it might seem like you should take the “don’t fix it if it’s not broken” approach, you might be surprised with closer inspection of what needs an update on your boat dock.
Consider Buying a Boat Dock Float
When it comes to improving your water emergency preparedness, you might want to consider looking into buying a boat dock float. This style of dock ensures a faster response time to getting on and off the water because of their dynamic construction and assembly. By choosing a DIY dock float, you can maneuver your floating dock however it fits best for your boat and access to shore. This way, if something arises that requires a quick response, you know you have safe and reliable access to a solution.
Review Safety Expectations with Guests
If you have friends or family over to your boat and dock, it might be embarrassing to have to go over safety expectations with them. When we’re familiar with our guests, it’s easy to not want to seem like a stickler or authority figure when everyone’s trying to have a good time. Trust us: you want to be the one to set a safety standard. Not only that, but it’s you’re responsibility as the owner of the dock and boat. If people are being reckless, or you have new guests to your dock, go over what to do and what not to do with them. It’s the right approach to take as a responsible boater.
Don’t Go Cheap on your Dock Setup
Last but not least, water emergency preparedness is one area in which we remind everyone not to be cheap in acquiring your dock hardware and accessories. Everything from a boat dock cleat to the actual dock itself needs to be high-quality to ensure ultimate safety.
That’s what we specialize in at Tommy Docks: high-quality materials for everything from aluminum dock kits and DIY setups to dock accessories for the outdoor enthusiast. You can trust our gear to be a great resource in your water emergency preparedness. Get started by taking a look at what you might need on our website today.
