With a number of popular beaches located within close proximity of Perth’s CBD, three Local Governments have worked together to develop a series of best practice guidelines to ensure that access for all abilities is available.
The guidelines were drafted to assist other councils and organisations with the selection, operation, storage and maintenance of beach wheelchairs. They also outline helpful hints for the use of beach matting, and assist with evaluating all access issues associated with a trip to the beach.
The three councils – the Town of Cottesloe, and Fremantle and Nedlands City Councils – worked together with Surf Live Saving Western Australia, the Disability Services Commission, the Western Australian Local Government Association, other government departments and non profit organisations.
These organisations approached a group of occupational therapy students from Curtin University to undertake a pilot project as part of their Masters studies.
Town of Cottesloe’s Manager Corporate Services, Graham Pattrick, said the pilot involved approximately 70 people trialling five beach wheelchairs over a six week period during summer.
“Each of the three councils had a group of students at their local beach, who loaned out the chairs and gained feedback from users and carers, while also making clinical observations,” he said. “A number of criteria were assessed, including design and comfort of the chairs, manoeuvrability, durability, transfers, and use of the chair on land and in the water.”
As a result, the study established the Freewheeler and Beach Trekker wheelchair models to be the most appropriate chairs for overall consumer use.
The Beach Trekker is designed to navigate uneven terrain, such as soft beach sand, and go directly into the water. Its distinctive track wheel is fitted to a marine grade stainless steel wheelchair frame, which minimises corrosion. It is able to go deep enough into the water for the user to swim, float off or remain in the chair.
The Freewheeler is designed to be pushed by at least one carer and has two large polyurethane balloon wheels at the back and two small polyurethane balloon wheels at the front, making it easy to manoeuvre. It is designed for use at the water’s edge and has a braking system, two retractable armrests and a seatbelt.
As part of the pilot, the use of beach matting was also evaluated. Designed to allow standard wheelchairs access onto the beach, the matting was used during the trial to reduce the energy required to push the beach wheelchairs on the sand.
Graham Pattrick said the matting was popular with the community as a whole, with significant use from general beach users with prams, and people wearing shoes.
“Along with evaluating beach matting, the project further evaluated major beaches along Perth’s coastline using a basic access checklist,” he said. “The evaluation assessed parking, infrastructure such as seating, accessible pathways, access to facilities such as toilets and showers, and beach conditions. From the evaluation, specific needs were identified for each beach and recommendations for improving accessibility were made accordingly.”
Following the pilot, Surf Living Saving Western Australia gave a chair and a length of beach matting to each council.
Graham Pattrick said Cottesloe received the Hippocampe model, which is a lightweight three wheel, all terrain model.
“Over the 2007/2008 summer, the chair was available for use at North Cottesloe beach,” he said. “Potential users could contact the North Cottesloe Surf Club prior to their visit to the beach to check availability and book the chair in.
“Currently, the North Cottesloe Surf Club only lays the beach matting out during summer months, however if demand increases, it will consider laying them out for longer periods.”
Cottesloe is now looking to make paths more accessible at its most popular beach, Cottesloe Beach, before purchasing another beach wheelchair for that area.
For further information contact Graham Pattrick on (08) 9285 5000.
