Maritime New Zealand sees huge increase in personal locator beacons set off accidentally & More News Here – Upjobsnews

Maritime New Zealand has seen a huge increase in the number of personal locator beacons being set off accidentally.

One rescue centre says they’re called out to a false alarm every day.

It’s an expensive exercise so authorities are urging beacon owners to register their details so they can be contacted.

Logan Hughes was driving a tractor on his Alfredtown farm in the Tararua district last month when he noticed the locator beacon on his belt had activated without him realising.

“It had just rubbed up against the side of the seat and pressed the button slightly.”

Arriving home for lunch an hour or so later, he found a rescue helicopter landing by the house.

“It buzzed around the house for a bit then landed down there on that plateau there.”

He’d just bought the beacon but hadn’t finished registering his contact details online. So when it was triggered they had no way of checking with him to see if it was a genuine emergency.

“I felt so sorry for myself. It wasn’t a very good situation,” he told Newshub.

He’s one of the hundreds of Kiwis a year who accidentally set off their locator beacons.

Maritime NZ has seen a surge in Kiwis using PLBs, or personal locator beacons, as they become more accessible.

In 2019, 120,000 beacons were registered to people and in 2022 there are 140,000.

“PLBs are increasing in popularity because they are just so easy for people to take out on their activities,” said Sam Mildon from the rescue coordination centre.

This has resulted in a number of false beacon alerts from a couple a week to what Mildon says has increased their operations.

“It’s about a third of our operations are inadvertent, that’s about one a day that is inadvertent or accidental.”

If the beacon is not registered then the owner can’t be reached – and a rescue operation is launched. This can waste precious time and resources.

LifeFlight rescue aircrewman Julian Burn said crews are sent out regardless of whether it was pressed on purpose or not.

“Crews do get sent to inadvertent activations and that potentially could take the crews away from somewhere they are needed,” he told Newshub.

“Anytime we get a beacon activation inadvertent or real it’s all hands on deck.”

If you own a locator beacon you must register it online at beacons.org.nz, otherwise, you run the risk of a rescue helicopter landing at your place because the rescue centre can’t contact you.

Something Hughes has learnt the hard way, but he’s glad help would be there in an emergency.

“If I’m at the bottom of a hill with my life in danger and I need saving they are going to come to get me.”

When handling or storing a beacon, it is important to read the instructions first. Mildon said it can be set off accidentally in various ways.

“It can either be a button being pressed while testing or crushed in a pack because you are storing it incorrectly.”

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