Putting the "Safe" in Marine Safety

What’s going on with Marine Safety? Just ask our Flotilla Staff Officer, Randi Aldrich, who dons her ODUs and heads for Fort Myers every Wednesday morning. At the Coast Guard’s Marine Safety Detachment on Colonial Boulevard, she is learning about environmental emergencies large and small.

Randi has already spent hundreds of study hours both online and in the classroom, including Hazardous Waste Operation (HAZWOPER) training at Station Fort Myers Beach. On a recent day she joined the Coast Guard’s MSD unit to investigate a report of oil on the water at the Chiquita Lock in Cape Coral. Back in the office, she is learning to use the MSD’s computer software program to enter and track information on incidents such as this. Photos by David Crockwell

The environmental aspect of the Marine Safety program is so new to the Auxiliary that no training materials exist. Randi and her Division Nine Staff Officer, David Crockwell, have been working together to document the training they have received at the MSD in Fort Myers and make it available to others.

Randi has completed all the requirements for the Marine Safety ribbon and recently became the Marine Safety training officer for the Division.

Randi says the Coast Guard wants to train someone from every flotilla to handle incidents like the initial reports of pollution in their local area. Many of these reports turn out to be groundless or mistaken, but all must be investigated. Trained Auxiliarists can respond first and call in the Coast Guard only when a real problem exists, saving time and money.

If you want to help, contact Randi at randi@randialdrich.com. For more information on the program, click here: http://pdept.cgaux.org/MarineSafetyTrainingRibbon.htm