At the seaside
Planning a day at the beach? Sounds great! But do make sure you are well prepared. Various organisations provide information to help you prepare. On YouTube you can also find videos that explain gullies, supervised beaches and more. We have already collected several of them on this page.
Wristbands for children
Prevent your child from getting lost! Give your child a wristband with your name and mobile number. Then if they do get lost on the beach, their adult can be reached easily. This can prevent the need for a search on the beach. Such wristbands are sold by different organisations (such as the lifesaving brigades). Sometimes lifesaving brigades hand them out on the beach.
Swimming water
The Netherlands has over 700 designated seaside and other locations for safe swimming. You can find them by visiting zwemwater.nl or in the ZwemwaterApp. At these locations, water quality and safety are checked regularly. All the designated swimming locations are listed on the website and can be recognised on site by the blue information signs placed by the provincial authorities.
Location reporting on the beach
When you call an emergency number, whether that is 0900-0111 (national calls), +31 (0)88 – 958 4040, or 112, the incident room operators will first ask you for the location of the accident. But what do you tell them when you are somewhere on the beach? Katwijk, Noordwijk and other beaches have numbered beach posts every 250 metres. Report the number on the seaward side of the post to the incident room, and they will know your location.