Do we need to bring the Public Safety Ads back?

whisky_galore

It was only earlier this week I remarked to someone at work that someone would drown before the dry spell was over. And today we hear this happened...

https://www.breakingnews.ie/ireland/latest-two-teenage-boys-have-died-after-drowning-in-ennis-quarry-846270.html

Rather insensitively, when the emergency vehicles were leaving, more people started swimming in this quarry. After being challenged, they said that it 'wasn't their problem' and they wanted to swim anyway.:rolleyes:

Rather reactively, a token water safety ad was run during the radio ad break.

punisher5112

Sad story.

Are there any life saving equipment in the area such as floatation devices.
If not there should be.

If it's so dangerous then huge fines and underage person's should be rounded up and brought home.

I would say drinks would be taken by many that would be at the likes of these places.

R.I.P.

whisky_galore

punisher5112 wrote: »

Are there any life saving equipment in the area such as floatation devices.
If not there should be.

In a quarry? Where people shouldn't be swimming or have access to anyway?

punisher5112

whisky_galore wrote: »

In a quarry? Where people shouldn't be swimming or have access to anyway?

Yes because it's obvious signs don't work.

If family know their kids are going they should stop them of course but with the way kids will go off then maybe it would be a good idea to have floatation devices.

razorblunt

PSA to not swim in quarry water?

Sure, then make that advise people to stay away from cliff faces!


Seriously though, definitely need some on people texting and walking. It's been a weird week for this:

Monday - guy walked into pole
Tuesday - girl roller her ankle on a footpath crack
Wednesday - guy walked out in front of car at a junction
Thursday - guy stepped off a footpath with traffic coming behind him to the right of him
Friday - girl walked out in front of a car at a junction (I think it might have been the same car as the Wednesday incident)

Vladimir Poontang

If not sure ads on RTE and 2fm will deter young people from swimming in idiotic places, often under the influence of booze and drugs.

Probably only thing that would work is heavy fines and enforce them regularly.

I see idiots swimming at Ardnacrusha Power Station in the headrace and jumping off the bridge there every summer despite numerous warnings, safety equipment on site and the fact that several people have drowned there over the years.

The common denominator seems always to be that they are knackers.

stimpson

Fill the quarry with piranhas. Problem solved.

McMurphy

2 x young lads at the age of 15 tragically lost their lives yesterday, one of which lost his trying to help his pal.

Jokes are a bit out of order lads.

buried

Non working water filled Quarries are highly dangerous, and not just because they are deep. The gigantic holes dug deep into the deep rock of the Earth break open a range of caverns and powerful underground springs that are running through the gigantic deep beds of stone. When the quarry is then no longer in use and filled with water, these underground caverns and springs are still active underneath, with the same natural force of power, gushing huge amounts of ice ice cold water into the quarry hole. This is the extreme huge natural force of the planet, but all people see from above is a nice tranquil looking lake. There needs to be better education about these places. The fact that these places are non working areas means the facts and knowledge of the dangers contained in these places are becoming more lost by the day. Look at the people that decided to go in swimming even after the two young lads were pulled out. They definitely have no clue just what a quarry bed is or was and the same thing could have easily happened to them.

seamus

^^
Not to mention that there's a significant risk from infectious diseases from these kinds of bodies of water, just in general but also from the risk of injuring oneself on the rough ground under the water.

If there are signs everywhere warning people not to swim, would a floatation device or two really make a difference? Would the kind of people who swim in quarry water know how to use them?

McMurphy

buried wrote: »

Non working water filled Quarries are highly dangerous, and not just because they are deep. The gigantic holes dug deep into the deep rock of the Earth break open a range of caverns and powerful underground springs that are running through the gigantic deep beds of stone. When the quarry is then no longer in use and filled with water, these underground caverns and springs are still active underneath, with the same natural force of power, gushing huge amounts of ice ice cold water into the quarry hole. This is the extreme huge natural force of the planet, but all people see from above is a nice tranquil looking lake. There needs to be better education about these places. The fact that these places are non working areas means the facts and knowledge of the dangers contained in these places are becoming more lost by the day. Look at the people that decided to go in swimming even after the two young lads were pulled out. They definitely have no clue just what a quarry bed is or was and the same thing could have easily happened to them.

I've often wondered what exactly was the danger with them, I remember a lad drowning in a quarry near where I live years ago, and like you just posted - they look fairly calm and idyllic places to swim, apart from the fact they're fairly deep, and are missing sandy shores to swim up to.

Because of the lad I mentioned above losing his life to one, it was instilled in us (all the local youths) to steer well clear of them from his ending.

Post sums up why people shouldn't be swimming in them.

whisky_galore

seamus wrote: »

^^
Not to mention that there's a significant risk from infectious diseases from these kinds of bodies of water, just in general but also from the risk of injuring oneself on the rough ground under the water.

If there are signs everywhere warning people not to swim, would a floatation device or two really make a difference? Would the kind of people who swim in quarry water know how to use them?

They'd probably fcuk them into the water or vandalise them anyway.

I'd be in favour of fining the property owners; either fill it in or secure it or get fined.

YFlyer

seamus wrote: »

^^
Would the kind of people who swim in quarry water know how to use them?

Wat?

seamus

whisky_galore wrote: »

I'd be in favour of fining the property owners; either fill it in or secure it or get fined.

Is that realistic?

These things are enormous, small lakes by all accounts, and virtually worthless to the land owner. One can put 3m fences around them, but the young locals wouldn't be long cutting gaps through it. Permanent security to monitor would be expensive and fairly pointless.

Filling it in would be a big undertaking, but that's not to say impossible. However, many former quarries are now fairly well established ecosystems that would be ruined by filling in.

Maybe just being more overt about the danger is the only way to go. Rather than a couple of tiny "No Swimming" signs, put huge 2m signs up like these all around the quarry so they can't be missed and the message can't be misread. "Swim in this quarry and you will die".

"Danger, Deep Water, No Swimming" isn't exactly laying the danger on very thick.

stimpson

Johnny Dogs wrote: »

2 x young lads at the age of 15 tragically lost their lives yesterday, one of which lost his trying to help his pal.

Jokes are a bit out of order lads.

Sorry, bit of a flippant comment.

My point is that there is no perceived threat from swimming in a quarry. Putting up a danger sign is no use. My missus tells a story about her sister saving a friend from drowning in a disused quarry when they were kids. Looking back she says they never realised how dangerous it was to play there. You can’t put an old head on young shoulders.

RobertKK

Swimming in a quarry is always dangerous, just horrific for those families and friends affected.

It wouldn't hurt to make it mandatory to have warnings up in places where people swim that is inappropriate. Along with a public safety campaign, it is great that there is a public safety campaign in the media at present in regards to farming, given about 20 people a year die in farming related accidents.
But we also have people die every year via drowning when we get a decent spell of weather and more could be done, it is just sad that every year it is the same thing.

buried

Johnny Dogs wrote: »

I've often wondered what exactly was the danger with them, I remember a lad drowning in a quarry near where I live years ago, and like you just posted - they look fairly calm and idyllic places to swim, apart from the fact they're fairly deep, and are missing sandy shores to swim up to.

Because of the lad I mentioned above losing his life to one, it was instilled in us (all the local youths) to steer well clear of them from his ending.

Post sums up why people shouldn't be swimming in them.

Yeah I worked in one during the summers as a teenager, a Limestone block one, so I'd say this one in County Clare that those two lads died in was probably similar. The underground springs was a real eye-opener for me. I remember once seeing the quarrymen down below, the men that cut out the huge blocks, they used to stick their heads for a second or two in front of the active springs when the water would come gushing out during the really hot weather. The most clean, icy cold water from deep inside the earth. Those lads were absolute lunatics anyways, but they knew what they were doing. But I never forgot it, those springs and caverns are still there too. Huge force of natural energy.

whisky_galore

seamus wrote: »

Is that realistic?

These things are enormous, small lakes by all accounts, and virtually worthless to the land owner. One can put 3m fences around them, but the young locals wouldn't be long cutting gaps through it. Permanent security to monitor would be expensive and fairly pointless.

Filling it in would be a big undertaking, but that's not to say impossible. However, many former quarries are now fairly well established ecosystems that would be ruined by filling in.

Maybe just being more overt about the danger is the only way to go. Rather than a couple of tiny "No Swimming" signs, put huge 2m signs up like these all around the quarry so they can't be missed and the message can't be misread. "Swim in this quarry and you will die".

"Danger, Deep Water, No Swimming" isn't exactly laying the danger on very thick.

You're probably right there. Could be owned by a company gone bust or doesn't exist anymore. The buildings surrounding it look 50+ years old.

The current signage there isn't 'extreme' enough to put people off swimming.

c.p.w.g.w

whisky_galore wrote: »

They'd probably fcuk them into the water or vandalise them anyway.

I'd be in favour of fining the property owners; either fill it in or secure it or get fined.

Fine the parents of the kids

whisky_galore

c.p.w.g.w wrote: »

Fine the parents of the kids

Have to catch them at it first, and even then...

c.p.w.g.w

whisky_galore wrote: »

Have to catch them at it first, and even then...

They surely have the friends of yesterday's victims.

begbysback

Vladimir Poontang wrote: »

If not sure ads on RTE and 2fm will deter young people from swimming in idiotic places, often under the influence of booze and drugs.

Probably only thing that would work is heavy fines and enforce them regularly.

I see idiots swimming at Ardnacrusha Power Station in the headrace and jumping off the bridge there every summer despite numerous warnings, safety equipment on site and the fact that several people have drowned there over the years.

The common denominator seems always to be that they are knackers.

So, everyone who swims in unsuitable places during a hot summers day is a drunk drug taking knacker - where do you get this tripe from?

c.p.w.g.w

begbysback wrote: »

So, everyone who swims in unsuitable places during a hot summers day is a drink drug taking knacker - where do you get this trip from?

Can back up his comment on the ardnacrusha tail race. 99% of them are scumbags. Have lived out that side and cycled that way a lot over the years

whisky_galore

c.p.w.g.w wrote: »

They surely have the friends of yesterday's victims.

It's not going to happen.

Everyone goes home and learns a lesson, or in the case of the people that went swimming afterwards...learn nothing.

HeidiHeidi

buried wrote: »

Non working water filled Quarries are highly dangerous, and not just because they are deep. The gigantic holes dug deep into the deep rock of the Earth break open a range of caverns and powerful underground springs that are running through the gigantic deep beds of stone. When the quarry is then no longer in use and filled with water, these underground caverns and springs are still active underneath, with the same natural force of power, gushing huge amounts of ice ice cold water into the quarry hole. This is the extreme huge natural force of the planet, but all people see from above is a nice tranquil looking lake. There needs to be better education about these places. The fact that these places are non working areas means the facts and knowledge of the dangers contained in these places are becoming more lost by the day. Look at the people that decided to go in swimming even after the two young lads were pulled out. They definitely have no clue just what a quarry bed is or was and the same thing could have easily happened to them.

seamus wrote: »

^^
Not to mention that there's a significant risk from infectious diseases from these kinds of bodies of water, just in general but also from the risk of injuring oneself on the rough ground under the water.

If there are signs everywhere warning people not to swim, would a floatation device or two really make a difference? Would the kind of people who swim in quarry water know how to use them?

I've wondered the last few days what exactly the danger was with these quarries. I'm a bit more educated now thanks to the above posts. I had only thought of fresh water being less buoyant than salt water, and generally a lot colder.



All the news reports stress the danger of these quarries for swimming in. But they don't say what the danger actually is. To me it just sounded a bit like a challenge to daredevil youngsters - "dangerous? psh!"


Maybe these reports and ads should spell out exactly what the dangers are, and it might seep into the public consciousness to stay away from them. I'm sure I'm not in the minority in my ignorance.

Roger Hassenforder

whisky_galore wrote: »

It's not going to happen.

Everyone goes home and learns a lesson, or in the case of the people that went swimming afterwards...learn nothing.

How frustrating must it be for the emergency services, after pulling those lad's bodies from the water telling others not to swim as it was dangerous, and being told "fcuk off".

How do you reason with those people?

Vladimir Poontang

Roger Hassenforder wrote: »

How frustrating must it be for the emergency services, after pulling those lad's bodies from the water telling others not to swim as it was dangerous, and being told "fcuk off".

How do you reason with those people?

When they get into trouble, give them the same response.

The Crowman

Maybe something like this.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XNPMYRlvySY

Oasis1974

Remember the ad from years ago for the turnip turners. Young fella in the end says "Granddad Where's Granddad". They wire messed the drums of water and the silage pit I think for safety reasons? Think he fell off the edge of the river while on the deckchair I'm a bit vague on it was awhile ago.

diomed

stimpson wrote: »

Fill the quarry with piranhas. Problem solved.

You got there before me. I was going to suggest crocodiles.

Graces7

punisher5112 wrote: »

Yes because it's obvious signs don't work.

If family know their kids are going they should stop them of course but with the way kids will go off then maybe it would be a good idea to have floatation devices.

Would they wear them? Here it is LAW that all passengers and crew on our small curragh ferry wear life jackets... Do they? Nah! I do as family made me promise so one of the crew gets one out for me every time.

Young lives are lost when the weather is like this and when ponds freeze in winter

Would not wish this time on those families ; lost my brother to drowning . God love and heal them

somefeen

We need better signs.

'Danger, Deep Water" and 'No Swimming' don't tell you anything. I can swim in the deepest part of the ocean and be perfectly safe and most would see 'no swimming' as 'no trespassing'

Just tell people why its dangerous for **** sake.

"This water has unseen currents which will pull you to the bottom. Do not swim here."

retro:electro

punisher5112 wrote: »

Yes because it's obvious signs don't work.

If family know their kids are going they should stop them of course but with the way kids will go off then maybe it would be a good idea to have floatation devices.

Floatation devices would just encourage people to get in the water and use them. You want to discourage people from getting in. The only way to do that is more education and awareness around why they are so dangerous. Sometimes things like this needs to be spelled out to people

punisher5112

retro:electro wrote: »

Floatation devices would just encourage people to get in the water and use them. You want to discourage people from getting in. The only way to do that is more education and awareness around why they are so dangerous. Sometimes things like this needs to be spelled out to people

Not necessarily as they would be there if someone were to fall in that can't swim just like they are at canals and harbours etc.

whisky_galore

punisher5112 wrote: »

Not necessarily as they would be there if someone were to fall in that can't swim just like they are at canals and harbours etc.

Canals and harbours are amenities and/or workplaces and may have public access. There's no good reason why anyone should be in this quarry.