BATH — Bath officials are trying to make waterfront parks safer after a man fell from a city-owned pier into the Kennebec River last week.

“If someone falls in the river, what mechanism do they have to grab onto something?” City Manager Peter Owen said. “Fortunately, it was high tide and the person didn’t fall far. If it was a different period of tide, he may have been swept away.”

Bath Fire Chief Lawrence Renaud said a 63-year-old man was standing on a cross support of the pier at the South End Dog Park on lower Washington Street last week. He was leaning over the railing looking at the water when he apparently got dizzy and fell into the water.

He was able to hang on to a tire attached to a piling below until Bath Iron Works security workers pulled him into their boat with help from Bath firefighters.

The man walked away with only bruises.

City Manager Peter Owen said the pier has railings but the city is now reviewing whether it should add other safety measures, such as a life ring. City officials have discussed installing a net to prevent people from falling and hitting their head. 

Bath also prohibits swimming from all public docks and boat ramps. Signs are posted to all sides of the railings at Waterfront Park on Commercial Street warning that swimming, alcohol and overnight docking is not allowed. The park closes at 10 p.m. There is also a video camera to help the city monitor its use.  A city boat is docked there for the police to use in case someone does fall in the river. 

Placing railings on the docks isn’t an option, because the railings would block boaters’ access to the water.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, from 2005-2014, there was an average of 3,536 fatal unintentional drownings unrelated to boating annually in the United States — about 10 deaths per day. An additional 332 people died each year from drowning in boating-related incidents.

It’s more difficult for communities to address safety concerns on private waterfront property.

On April 18, 35-year-old David Dieterich of Wisconsin was with two coworkers when he stepped onto an unstable dock on private property near the Kennebec Tavern and fell into the river around 10 p.m. His body was found a month later 6 miles upriver along the Bowdoniham shore of Merrymeeting  Bay.

“My understanding is that there was one little rope,” said Dieterich’s sister, Betsy Winterhack; not signs, a fence or something they would have to climb over. “It was more along the lines of, ‘the pier is closed for the night.’ Not that ‘if you climb over this rope you could die.’”

Owen said the city hasn’t had any discussion about whether building codes or other city regulations require certain safety measures along the river, other than normal waterfront safety measures required for insurance coverage.