A call to cut the use of maroons, rockets fired to alert lifeboats, has been labelled “health and safety gone mad” by a crew manager in Essex.
Phil Oxley, operations manager of Walton lifeboat station, said stopping the age-old tradition, is “a tragedy”.
But the Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI) said: “This is not a ban, but rather a recommendation not to use maroons unless totally necessary.”
The RNLI made the decision following a re-evaluation of the use of maroons.
Mr Oxley said he was concerned at the advice to not fire the two maroon alarm when a lifeboat is launching to a boat in distress.
He said: “It seems people think is dangerous.”
Mr Oxley explained the tradition of firing the audible alarms dated back more than 100 years and was managed professionally by a crewman who releases the maroon from a special apparatus.
RNLI manager Phil Oxley has criticised the maroon cut
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“The maroons are an important link in letting the town know that their lifeboat is out. I think it’s health and safety gone mad.”
“We depend entirely on to operate the lifeboat station and anything which removes the links between the lifeboat and the town has to be a backwards step.”
A spokeswoman for the RNLI said there were “some health and safety risks” regarding maroons.
“There’s the for misfire and for debris to be blown onshore by the wind,” she said.
“Consequently it’s been decided to minimise any potential risk by reducing the use of maroons, and to fire them only when absolutely necessary.”
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