Photos: RNLI floats new pager system

Pagers are used because while someone might ignore a mobile going off, with a pager they know there's an emergency to respond to, Forsham explained.

The current pagers (pictured) are smaller than the previous devices and also have the advantage of a range of different ringtones: one for a launch situation, another for a systems test, another for a cancelled launch and so on. .

Martin Jaggs, coxswain and mechanic for Lytham St Annes station, told silicon.com a lot of volunteers will hear the pager going off and run to the lifeboat station - without checking the message on the screen.

Jaggs said: "We used to get a few people running into the station ready for a launch when all we were doing was sending a test message out."

The different sets of tones should stop volunteers turning up when they're not needed, Jaggs added.

Photo credit: Gemma Simpson