Our Safety Record

Hi SBW committee,

Just because I'm not on the committee any more, and on an enforced holiday, it doesn't mean I'm going away! I thought I would remind everyone of the safety record of the SBW ...

A PLB has never been activated on a Shoalhaven Bushwalkers walk - despite torn hamstrings, quad muscles ripped off the bone, elbow and shoulder dislocations, broken ribs, numerous blows to the head, people tripping, people falling off bikes and breaking bones, and many, many instances of navigational embarrassment!

Lee Cordner set off a PLB in Tasmania once when his companion had a suspected heart attack, but the walk was not a Shoalhaven Bushwalkers walk. Even if it had been on our program, it would not have been an official club walk because it only had two participants, and our safety procedures specify there must be at least FOUR people on our walks.

Christina Sidor was recently involved in a walk where she broke her leg and a PLB was activated, but I'm pretty sure that wasn't a Shoalhaven Bushwalkers walk either.

Also, as far as I can remember - which is not always a reliable guide 😀 - I can only recall three times where members of the Shoalhaven Bushwalkers have had to overnight in the bush.

The first was back in the 90s when Lillian and Daphne were "bushed" on a walk they were doing on the Beecroft Peninsula - see the club history for details. Again, I'm pretty sure this was not a club walk - it was more of a training walk for an upcoming Tasmanian trip - as there were only two people on the walk. The ladies had a mobile phone and called for help. They stayed out all night but were helped out the next morning by a party of ten Shoalhaven Bushwalkers. The "rescue" was handled in-house.

The second "overnighter" happened in May 2008 when 5 Shoalhaven Bushwalkers exceeded their capabilities and didn't quite make it back to the start before dark. They had realized early that they would be late getting back so phoned their families while they had reception. Eventually they reached a point where one of the party couldn't go on, and they were no longer in phone coverage. Two members of the party stayed with the "weakest link" while two other members walked out. When there was no further word by 9pm I rang the Nowra police - I was club president at the time. At 9:30pm the two guys who walked out managed to phone in. The police were informed of the situation, Peter Dalton and I went out first thing the next morning to retrieve the three guys, and everything worked out okay. Again, handled pretty much in-house.

The third "overnighter" was on a walk led by Lee Cordner - are we seeing a trend here? A two day walk up Wirritin Ridge to Currockbilly turned into a 3 day walk because of an overgrown route and one slow walker that Lee hadn't walked with before. We had mobile phone coverage when we were high on the ridge and contacted our loved ones to say we'd be a day late. We had our tents with us, and shared spare food, so it wasn't really a problem. Again, handled in-house.

If any of you can think of any more incidents that should be taken into account, let us know.

Given this track record - and all the other complaints I've detailed in previous emails - are the proposed new safety procedures justified? They are just too complicated and too much extra work for leaders and safety contacts. They really need to be re-thought ...

Cheers,
Brett