A digital warning sign on The Esplanade. Photo: Chloe Sipeki.
A few weeks ago, a visitor from Perth sadly lost her life when she was washed off the rocks at Salmon beach.
In the weeks after the incident, Esperance residents began posting photos to Facebook of beach goers who failed to heed warnings and were climbing on coastal rocks.
There are currently warning signs at several popular beaches in Esperance, as well as those on Twilight Beach Road and The Esplanade.
If talking about it isn’t enough and if signage isn’t enough, what more can be done to make people aware of coastal dangers?
“They just think it won’t happen to them.”
Chris Brien is the Chairman of the Esperance Coastal safety group. He said tragic incidents like the one at Salmon Beach were the result of a series of unfortunate events that often began with complacency.
“People aren’t heeding the safety warnings and signage,” he said.
“They are heading out onto the rock and don’t know what danger they are in until they are in the water.
“They think on a relatively calm day that they are safe, but it was proven on Saturday that they aren’t.”
“It has claimed so many lives over the years.”
The Coastal Safety Group collaborated with the Shire of Esperance late last year to have several new signs put up at Salmon Beach and digital signs on the side of the road.
Mr Brien said it came as no shock when people failed to heed the warnings clearly communicated by the signs.
“Every year we go through the same thing,” he said.
“Every year people don’t read signs and don’t head what we are trying to tell them.
“This year we have a dedicated message board, and they don’t even look at them.
“People aren’t looking at them.”
Mr Brien said the Coastal Safety Group was doing everything it could to spread information about coastal safety hazards to as many people as possible.
In the wake of the recent drowning, Mr Brien said they would continue to work towards affective communication methods.
“It exasperates us to the point that we keep looking at what we are doing, and we can’t do much more without putting up fences around beaches,” he said.
“All we need to do is stay the course and keep putting the information out there for people to read.
“Try and be as innovative as we can with the messaging.
“One on the key things is to get it out beyond our borders.”
When we spoke to Mr Brien last week, he said the Coastal Safety Group had an upcoming meeting where it would revisit current strategy.
More information about coastal safety hazards can be found on the Esperance Coastal Safety website and Facebook page.
