The RNLI's latest achievements announced - for 2012
Wednesday 10 July 2013

In 2012:
- the 140,000th life was saved by the RNLI since 1824, when it was established
- 7,964 people were rescued by RNLI lifeboat crews
- 449 lives were saved (in 2012 alone) - and 1 in 4 of those involved casualty care
- an average of 22 rescues took place every day
- 85 people were rescued by the RNLI's flood rescue teams - in 8 deployments
- 16,418 people were aided by RNLI lifeguards
- RNLI lifeboats were launched to assist 1,080 people in the water
- 387 lifeboat launches were sent to help people cut off by the tide
- 1,499 lifeboat launches were to craft with machinery failure
- lifeboats were launched to assist 1,715 power pleasurecraft
- lifeboats were launched to assist 36 aircraft
- 125 lifeboat launches rescued animals
- 1.9 million preventative actions were carried out by lifeguards
- lifeguards assisted with 1,053 incidents caused by rip currents
- lifeguards assisted with 347 incidents involving surfers
- lifeguards assisted with 704 incidents involving bodyboarders
- 4,752 weever-fish stings were treated by lifeguards
- 58,064 people were given sea safety advice by RNLI teams
- 1,125 commercial fishermen were given safety training by RNLI teams
- 21,971 school children took part in the RNLI programme "Beach to City"
- 6,973 children completed the RNLI programme "Hit the Turf"
- 1,1093 lifejackets were checked by the RNLI's safety experts
More facts about the people who provided the 'service' in 2012 and what that involved - including training:
- the number of RNLI volunteer lifeboat crew members rose to over 4,700
- the number of RNLI lifeguards on patrol was over 900
- 95% of RNLI people were volunteers
- 19,000 miles of coastline were covered by RNLI lifeboats
- 183 beaches were patrolled by RNLI lifeguards
- 56,975 hours were spent by lifeboat crews saving lives at sea
- 3,120 lifeboat launches took place in darkness
- 501 launches were by the busiest crew, at Tower Lifeboat Station in London
- 10 lifeboat launches were on Christmas Day
- 167,832 hours were spent training by volunteer lifeboat crews
- 2,270 crew members were trained around the coast by mobile training units