Professional safety and rescue boat cover for events, projects and operations on the water.
When you’re working on, over or around water, having a boat nearby is only part of the solution.
You need a capable crew, the right equipment and a clear plan for what happens when someone ends up in the water.
Square Knot provides professional Safety & Rescue Boat Services across the UK, supporting events, construction projects, infrastructure works, film and television productions and other activities where people are operating on or close to water.
We provide the boat, the crew and the rescue capability — with the option to integrate qualified medical personnel where the risk requires it.
From a single safety boat supporting a small project to a coordinated water rescue operation covering a large event, we can build our service around your requirements.
Safety Boat or Rescue Boat?
We provide both.
A safety boat provides a visible, proactive presence on the water. It can monitor activity, provide assistance and respond quickly when something doesn’t go to plan.
A rescue boat takes that capability further.
Our rescue boat crews are equipped and prepared to respond to incidents on the water, including people falling into the water, casualties requiring recovery, craft in difficulty and other water-related emergencies.
The distinction is important — and we’ll help you determine what level of cover is appropriate for your operation.
Our service can include:
- Safety boat cover
- Rescue boat cover
- On-water standby
- Water rescue response
- Casualty recovery
- Person-in-water response
- Support to swimmers and water users
- Recovery of people from the water
- Support to vessels and craft in difficulty
- Personnel and equipment transfer
- Water-based access and inspection support
- Medical response from the water
Event Safety & Rescue
Water safety that keeps moving with your event.
Open-water events can cover a surprisingly large area.
Swimmers become separated. Conditions change. Participants become tired or distressed. When an incident occurs, getting a responder to the casualty quickly is critical.
Our safety and rescue boats provide a dedicated on-water response capability for events including:
- Open-water swimming
- Triathlons
- Swimathons
- Rowing events
- Canoeing and kayaking
- Paddleboarding
- Sailing
- Adventure races
- Charity challenges
- Festivals and outdoor events incorporating water
We can provide individual boats or build a coordinated water safety operation using multiple boats and crews.
Where required, our Event Medical Cover and Water Medics can operate alongside the boat teams, providing a joined-up response from the water through to definitive medical care.
Construction & Infrastructure
Keep people working safely around water.
Construction and infrastructure projects often involve people working directly over or immediately alongside water.
A fall into the water can quickly become a serious incident, particularly where there is restricted access, strong flow, cold water or difficult terrain.
Our Safety & Rescue Boat Services can support:
- Bridge construction and inspection
- Infrastructure projects
- River and canal works
- Reservoir and dam works
- Marine construction
- Environmental surveys
- Waterway maintenance
- Civil engineering projects
- Inspection and surveying
- Temporary works
- Personnel transfer
- Projects requiring water-based access
We can provide a dedicated boat and crew for the duration of the work or integrate our operation into a wider site rescue plan.
Our Water Rescue & Water Access service can provide additional rescue personnel and equipment where the project requires a more comprehensive capability.
Film & Television
Water safety that works around production.
Filming on or around water requires careful planning without creating unnecessary disruption to the production.
Our crews can provide professional safety and rescue boat cover for:
- Film and television
- Commercials
- Music videos
- Photography
- Water-based scenes
- Stunt sequences
- Location filming
- Talent and crew movements on water
We’ll work with production teams, location managers, stunt coordinators and other safety professionals to provide the water safety element of your operation.
For productions requiring medical cover as well as water safety, our Film & TV Medical Support service can be integrated into the same operation.
More Than Just a Boat
The crew makes the difference.
A rescue boat is only useful if the people operating it know what to do when things go wrong.
Square Knot’s crews have experience in water rescue, emergency response and pre-hospital care. This gives us a practical understanding of how incidents develop and, importantly, what happens after a casualty has been recovered from the water.
Our approach is simple:
Find the casualty.
Reach the casualty.
Recover the casualty.
Provide appropriate care.
Get them to the right place for further treatment.
For operations where the consequences of an incident are higher, we can put medically qualified personnel directly into the response team.
That means your rescue capability doesn’t have to stop at the water’s edge.
Equipment & Capability
Our boats and equipment are selected according to the environment and the requirements of the operation.
Depending on the deployment, this can include:
- Safety and rescue boats
- RIBs and inflatable rescue craft
- Experienced boat operators
- Water rescue personnel
- VHF communications
- Throw lines and rescue equipment
- Casualty recovery equipment
- Appropriate PPE
- Drysuits and buoyancy equipment
- First aid and medical equipment
- Oxygen
- Specialist rescue equipment
We can also provide Water Rescue Equipment Hire where you need additional equipment for your own operation.
Medical & Rescue Capability
One response. From water to shore.
One of the advantages of working with Square Knot is that our water rescue capability can be combined with our wider medical services.
For higher-risk operations, we can provide a response team that includes medical professionals alongside trained water rescue personnel.
This can be particularly valuable for:
- Large open-water events
- Remote locations
- Cold-water operations
- High-consequence construction projects
- Long-distance swimming events
- Activities where access to conventional emergency services is difficult
Our Remote Medical Services can provide additional clinical capability where required.
This gives organisers and contractors a single team capable of managing an incident from the initial water rescue through to casualty care and handover.
Planning & Risk Management
The right cover starts with understanding the risk.
Every water environment is different.
Before deployment, we’ll consider the location, activity, number of people involved, water conditions, access and egress, likely emergencies and the resources available to deal with them.
For larger or more complex operations, we can assist with:
- Water safety plans
- Rescue plans
- Risk assessments
- RAMS
- Emergency procedures
- Casualty evacuation plans
- Communications plans
- Site assessments
- Water access and egress planning
- Liaison with event or project management
- Integration with existing emergency arrangements
Where your own team needs additional capability, our Water Rescue Training can provide practical training for personnel working in and around the water.
Why Square Knot?
Medical. Rescue. Training.
Square Knot isn’t simply a boat operator.
We’re a medical, rescue and training company with experience working in challenging environments where a straightforward approach and competent people matter.
Our teams work across events, construction, water rescue, emergency response and specialist training. That means we understand the wider picture rather than looking at the boat operation in isolation.
If an incident happens, the rescue doesn’t finish when the casualty reaches the side.
What happens next matters too.
That’s why our Safety & Rescue Boat Services can be integrated with our medical, water rescue and remote response capabilities to provide a complete operational solution.
Need Safety or Rescue Boat Cover?
Whether you need a single safety boat, a dedicated rescue boat or a complete water safety and medical response, we can build a solution around your operation.
Tell us what you’re doing, where you’re doing it and what you’re concerned about. We’ll help you work out what you need.
Water Rescue & Water Access
Event Medical Cover
Water Medics
Remote Medical Services
Water Rescue Training
Square Knot 