Birmingham & Midland Marine Services (BMMS) provide a wide portfolio of services to the inland waterways, lake, reservoir, and rivers sectors, specialising in training personnel working in, on and around the water, including on commercial vessels.
Birmingham & Midland Marine Services (BMMS) provide a wide portfolio of services to the inland waterways, lake, reservoir, and rivers sectors, specialising in training personnel working in, on and around the water, including on commercial vessels.
BMMS provide training and support to the Civil Engineering, Construction, Maintenance, Rail, Utilities, Environmental, Ecology, Council, Waterside Establishment, Boat business, and Lowland Rescue / Search and Rescue sectors, working in an open water environment since 2013, becoming a Limited Company in 2020 during the Covid 19 pandemic.
Initially set up as a ‘sole trader’ concern from 2013 until 2020, the company now has an established Board of Directors, a bank of specialist instructors and operators, a fleet of vessels ranging from workboat to fast rescue craft, all-terrain vehicles for access and emergency response, plus a vast range of aquatic PPE and rescue equipment for both training and safety / rescue cover purposes.
As Corporate Partners of the ‘Institute of Search and Technical Rescue’ and a training provider for Outreach Rescue, the Institute of Search and Technical Rescue (InSTR), the Maritime and Coast Guard Agency, British Marine, and the Royal Yachting Association, the company’s systems and facilities are thoroughly audited and inspected for our clients peace of mind and to ensure that high standards are maintained.
Trainers and Instructors hail predominantly from Military, Lowland Rescue and Fire & Rescue Service backgrounds. Directors are from commercial vessel, and rescue backgrounds, our chairman is the former Chief Constable of Staffordshire Police.
BMMS are experienced in supporting commercial projects for the likes of High Speed Two (HS2), the Environment Agency, and National Grid.
Our services include:
Companies and organisations working on, beside or above open water are faced with a multitude of logistical complications; in fact, a ‘minefield’; ranging from ensuring compliance from the initial planning stages, obtaining workboats, safety boats, licences, permissions, marine risk assessments, sourcing suitable aquatic PPE and rescue equipment, plus ensuring that the appropriate training is given, specific to the environment in which they will be operating.
Further complications can include being required to provide specialist emergency first aid support, including the potential for drowning or cold-water shock, at locations often inhospitable due to their waterside locations, which are seldom easily accessible by ambulance.
Training requirements can be confusing for Human Resources, Health & Safety and Procurement Managers: The HSE, DEFRA and the CDM Regulations 2015 all have a requirement for training and the levels and types of training required also change depending upon the location of the watercourse, the specific environment and the expected level of water contact those personnel are faced with.
Potentially having to contract a specialist safety team to cover the water margins is a further complication; to what level should the rescue teams be trained? With what equipment, licences, and insurances?
Does this sound like a stressful day at the office? Birmingham & Midland Marine Services Ltd are the ‘minesweeper’ to help you reach your destination!
As a small yet niche business servicing the civil engineering, construction, rail, utilities, council, maintenance, environmental & ecology sectors, supporting & training the ‘Search & Rescue’ sector, and ensuring that boatyards, hire-fleets, waterside business operators remain compliant; clients are assured of a one-stop-shop approach to having the project supported from the initial tendering process to completion. Water related compliance ‘Health Checks’ can be undertaken for companies looking at what systems and training is already in place, and what is required going forwards to remain compliant with the statutory legal requirements.
Registered with Achilles and the National Procurement Framework, the Commercial Boat Operators Association, the Inland Waterways Association and British Marine, approved trainers to British Marine, the Institute of Search and Technical Rescue, the Outreach Organisation, the Royal Yachting Association, the Canal & River Trust and the Environment Agency, the companies’ credentials are assured.
The procurement and provision of specialist floating equipment, access solutions, and safety management systems, and training is available – happily for our clients – all in one package.
Sector specific training can be advised upon, and accredited courses delivered ‘in-house’ by our specialist training team.
Aquatic PPE and safety / rescue equipment can be sourced for clients from our framework of suppliers. Rescue drysuits and buoyancy aids, plus lifejackets (work at height compatible) as well as a range of aquatic PPE in Orange with reflectors ensure that BMMS can provision and train their clients in appropriate equipment for the job in hand.
Workboat and Rescue boat training is a BMMS speciality. With a fleet of craft which include two former Royal Marines ‘Rigid Raiders’ fitted with pushing knees, inflatable safety and rescue craft capable of fast response, a Jeanneau Rigiflex used mainly for support roles and training, and a 40’ Narrowbeam commercial workboat with welfare facilities, based on the Staffs & Worcester Canal.
Recent developments by Birmingham & Midland Marine Services include two new bespoke courses, commissioned by British Marine ‘Inland Waters Safety Management’ and ‘Marina Water Safety Management’, niche courses which are HSE and CDM Regulations compliant, for personnel working in and around the entire inland waterways and open water environment, and a very niche course for personnel working within the confines of tidally affected marinas; courses which were sorely needed by the sectors but were not available in a format tailored to those sectors.
Another specialist course was launched by BMMS in 2025, the ‘IWRBO’. Developed to address the shortfall in a suitable and relevant safety and rescue boat qualification for both the commercial and Search and Rescue sectors; BMMS Ltd developed the ‘Inland Waters Rescue Boat Operator’ course, that was given phase #2 approval for accreditation by the Institute of Search and Technical Rescue in August ’25, courses going live during the winter of 2025-26. The introduction of this course provides industry with a benchmark qualification, against which the sourcing of suitably qualified safety and boat operators hired to cover water oriented operations can be gauged.
A previous development for BMMS was the production of a bespoke ‘Small / Inflatable Craft’ course for the Canal & River Trust’s Craft Licencing Department, providing enforcement teams with the skills to operate small and inflatable craft as part of their role.
New for the late 2025 and into 2026 period sees the introduction of a specialist First Aid course which covers those elements required for working outdoors, in, on, above or near the water, and where the use of power tools such as chainsaws is prevalent.
Companies providing vegetation management and arborist services to the likes of the Environment Agency, within the broader National Flood Resilience sector need to provide their personnel with relevant First Aid Marine Environment & Forestry training will benefit from looking at these 1 and 2-day courses with a critical eye.
Encompassing the water related elements of first aid training such as the protocol for drowning within CPR, crushing, amputations, use of tourniquets, cold water shock, hydrostatic squeeze and vasoconstriction, the new BMMS course also includes the critical ‘+F’ element (Forestry) which covers the likes of catastrophic bleeds and major trauma in more depth; elements not found in depth as part of a ‘standard’ First Aid at Work course.
Birmingham & Midland Marine Services host 1, 3 and 5-day courses at both training centres. The higher-level award also covers spinal management and oxygen therapy.
Royal Yachting Association VHF radio and ‘Small Craft’ (less than 24m) First Aid courses also available at Gailey Wharf Training Centre with our partnering trainers.
Occupational Water Safety & Rescue courses are in the main delivered via the Outreach Rescue and the Institute of Search and Technical Rescue schemes, many of which are compliant with the training requirements set out within the DEFRA ‘Flood Rescue Concept of Operations’ documentation, and commercial river-based courses are based around the Annex ‘H’ syllabus, satisfying the Environment Agency as well as DEFRA.
Basic DEFRA Module 1), Module 2) Water Rescue First Responder and Module 3) Water Rescue One Technician courses also available in ‘closed course’ format by arrangement. Those clients falling outside the remit of both CDM Regulations 2015, and the DEFRA ‘Con-Ops’ would be required to comply with HSE legislation and the two new British Marine courses, Water safety / Marine Safety Management cover the bases for this type of client
CPD training to counter skills-fade and to remain compliant in some cases is also within the company’s portfolio.
Maritime and Coast Guard ‘Personal Survival and Water Safety’ training can be delivered alongside ‘Fire Safety’ to satisfy the Ancillary course training requirements for Boat Master Licences for operators of Workboats (WB), Passenger boats (+12 passengers – PAX) and Towing and Pushing operations. (TP).
Commercial Boat courses include workboat-oriented RYA Inland Waterways Helmsman Certificate training, commercially oriented RYA Powerboat Level 2, training and bespoke courses for Safety / Rescue Boat Operations.
With the company’s primary base being canalside at Gailey Wharf on the Staffs & Worcester Canal, Base-Two at a privately owned stately home with sixty-acre lake, and with licences and permissions in place for various other venues including National Trust property and ‘White Water’ locations in north Wales, our training areas are realistic, diverse and dynamic.
Located centrally 500m from Junction 12 of the M6, north of Birmingham and south of Stafford, the business is ideally placed, with easy access via road, rail, airport, and even by canal! Accommodation is available, our closest hotel being just 500m west of the training centre.
Further information can be found on the company website: www.midlandmarine.co.uk and the Management team are always happy to invite potential clients to their Gailey Wharf canalside depot or our second training centre location at the Chillington Estate in Staffordshire to discuss their requirements.