As part of a spring safety tradition at PortsToronto, approximately 200 crew and officers who will be working aboard the summer tour boats that operate in Toronto’s Harbour received hands-on emergency preparedness training at Marine Safety Day. This annual training is hosted with Toronto Marine Emergency Response Council partners, and ensures that tour boat crew and officers are equipped with the valuable skills required to deal with any emergency situation, should one arise.
 
Expert trainers from the Toronto Police Marine Unit, Toronto Fire Marine Unit and George Brown College guided participants through different emergency scenarios that may be encountered while working on a boat, and provided hand-on exercises that included fighting a fire, water rescues, crowd control and abandoning ship.
 
A highlight of this year’s exercise was the launch and use of a 75-person life raft to practice safe “abandon ship” protocol, with a volunteer in an exposure suit demonstrating how to properly enter the life raft from the water. Participants also practiced using ring buoys, putting on life preservers, and fighting small fires using fire extinguishers and fire hoses.
 
More people than ever before are enjoying and exploring Toronto’s waterfront, including the more than 6,000 recreational boaters who are out on the water in Toronto’s Harbour each year. With a responsibility for maintaining safe navigation for these boats, and the dozens of ocean-going vessels that use the city’s waterways, helping to ensure boater safety is a key priority for PortsToronto.
 
To read more about how PortsToronto helps to keep Toronto’s Harbour safe and clean, click here.