South Woodham Coastguard Rescue Team. In an emergency call 999 and ask for the Coastguard

General information

What is the Coastguard Rescue Service and what does it do ?

The volunteer Coastguard Rescue Service provides the UK’s coastal search and rescue capability and as part of Her Majesty’s Coastguard it can operate separately or jointly with other emergency services and volunteer rescue organisations. It consists of teams of volunteers (Coastguard Rescue Teams), drawn from the local community, which are fully trained and equipped to carry out search and rescue operations around the coast of the UK.

As a volunteer in one of our Coastguard Rescue Teams, you will play a vital role in helping the Maritime & Coastguard Agency, through Her Majesty’s Coastguard, achieve its vision of being a world-class organisation that is committed to preventing loss of life, improving maritime safety, and protecting the marine environment.

Members of the Coastguard Rescue Service are called Coastguard Rescue Officers and membership of the Coastguard Rescue Service is entirely voluntary.

Volunteer Coastguard Rescue Officers can be called out by the Maritime Rescue Co-ordination Centre (MRCC) at any time of the day or night, in all weathers, to respond to those in trouble or missing, to seek confirmation or further information of a report, or to participate in a joint response to an emergency

Here are the main things that the Coastguard Rescue Service does:

Carries out rescues of those trapped or injured on cliffs or in mud and provides a limited water rescue capability;
Carries out searches for missing persons often in conjunction with the Police;
Carries out coastal and inshore surveillance and intelligence gathering on behalf of the Maritime Rescue Coordination Centre (MRCC);
Provides emergency mobile communications including relay and remote radio site operation;
Provides incident response and on-scene co-ordination as required by the MRCC;
Reports the presence of pollution and other hazardous objects on the shore to the MRCC;
Carries out duties as required by the Receiver of Wreck;
Assists local authorities and the other emergency services when requested in relation to counter pollution, flood relief, missing person searches and other emergencies;
Carries out accident prevention and safety education activities and specially targeted prevention initiatives;