{"id":9990,"date":"2016-08-17T15:53:12","date_gmt":"2016-08-17T19:53:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.mml.org\/wp\/inside208\/?p=5154"},"modified":"2016-08-17T15:53:12","modified_gmt":"2016-08-17T19:53:12","slug":"beach-safety-emergency-equipment-guidance","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mml.org\/inside208\/2016\/08\/17\/beach-safety-emergency-equipment-guidance\/","title":{"rendered":"Beach Safety &amp; Emergency Equipment Guidance"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Michigan has in excess of 2,100 miles of Great Lakes shoreline, which contain more than 100 public beaches. When conditions are right the Great Lakes can have waves and currents of incredible force. Unfortunately, hazardous water currents on the Great Lakes account for may drowning deaths each year. Rip currents, other dangerous currents and unsafe wave conditions can occur along many beaches around the state.<\/p>\n<p>In recent years, there\u2019s been an important focus to make the public aware of the danger involving unsafe water currents as well as providing additional safety and rescue equipment at public beaches, but concerns have been raised about liability. \u00a0Many local units of government have expressed trepidation about potential liability regarding the placement of safety and rescue equipment on their public swimming beaches.\u00a0 However, Michigan governmental agencies are generally immune from liability in connection with beach safety.\u00a0 Still, it is nonetheless important for communities to take every measure they can to protect public safety.<\/p>\n<p>Communities looking to establish or update their beach safety guidelines, policies and plans have numerous resources to refer to for review. For example, in May, the Michigan Department of Natural Resources updated their Designated Beach Policy. To view the policy click the link provided <a href=\"\/inside208\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2016\/08\/MDNR-POLICY-3.-6-DESIGNATED-BEACHES-05-05-16-002.pdf\" rel=\"\">MDNR POLICY 3. 6 DESIGNATED BEACHES 05-05-16 (002)<\/a>.\u00a0A few local community examples are provided in the links below.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.south-haven.com\/pages\/beaches\/beach_pier_safety_book.pdf\">http:\/\/www.south-haven.com\/pages\/beaches\/beach_pier_safety_book.pdf<\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.muskegonhealth.net\/programs\/educational\/watersafety.htm\">http:\/\/www.muskegonhealth.net\/programs\/educational\/watersafety.htm<\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/michigancityparks.com\/index.php\/additional-resources\/tips-and-rules\/101-beach-rules-and-regulations\">http:\/\/michigancityparks.com\/index.php\/additional-resources\/tips-and-rules\/101-beach-rules-and-regulations<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Any local unit of government having specific questions should discuss this matter with their legal counsel.<\/p>\n<p><em>Jennifer Rigterink\u00a0is a legislative associate for the League handling economic development, land use and municipal services issues. \u00a0She can be reached at jrigterink@mml.org or 517-908-0305.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Michigan has in excess of 2,100 miles of Great Lakes shoreline, which contain more than 100 public beaches. When conditions are right the Great Lakes can have waves and currents of incredible force. Unfortunately, hazardous water currents on the Great Lakes account for may drowning deaths each year. Rip currents,  [&#8230;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":459,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9990","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","mml-onemagnify-plugin"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.8 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Beach Safety &amp; Emergency Equipment Guidance - Inside 208<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/mml.org\/inside208\/2016\/08\/17\/beach-safety-emergency-equipment-guidance\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Beach Safety &amp; Emergency Equipment Guidance - Inside 208\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Michigan has in excess of 2,100 miles of Great Lakes shoreline, which contain more than 100 public beaches. 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