Association between air temperature and unintentional drowning risk in the United Kingdom 2012–2019: A nationwide case-crossover study – Hills, S.P., Hobbs, M., Brown, P., Tipton, M. & Barwood, M. Preventative Medicine 2024; 179

Drowning and disasters: climate change priorities – Peden, A.E, Chisholm, S., Meddings, D.R. & Abrahams, J. The Lancet Planetary Health 2024; 8(6).

At the 15th World Conference on Injury Prevention and Safety Promotion in New Delhi, India, on 02–04 September, NWSF member, Carlene McAvoy, presented two papers: “Water Safety Scotland – Scotland’s Water Safety Programme” and “Scotland's Drowning and Incident Review – Insight and implications”.

New research released by Swim England shows that swimming lessons not only help children gain vital water safety skills, but also help build confidence, contribute to happiness and well-being, and foster the development of social skills to create friendships. Find out more here.

Campaigns

World Drowning Prevention Day

To mark World Drowning Prevention Day (WDPD), numerous activities took place across the UK.

Highlights from England

• Brighton Pier in East Sussex and Rivington Pike in Lancashire were ‘turned blue’.
• Cheshire Fire & Rescue Service ran bystander rescue training for the local community, and RNLI staff and volunteers pledged their support for WDPD.
• Tyne and Wear Fire & Rescue Service organised a partner event to visually share ‘Float to Live’ safety messaging, and RNLI fundraisers shared water safety messaging using sign language

Highlights from Scotland

Water Safety Scotland, alongside partners, hosted Scotland’s Water Safety Open Day. The event, which took place at the new location of Lomond Shores in Balloch, was visited by approximately 3,600 members of the public. The day included taster sessions on how to safely take part in sports such as stand-up paddleboarding, as well as activities to demonstrate and promote water safety and drowning prevention. The event was attended by a number of high-level attendees, including Parliamentary MSPs and the Minister for Community Safety.

Highlights from Wales

In Wales, a bilingual (English and Welsh) social media pack was produced for members of Water Safety Wales. Posts were shared by several key organisations, including Public Health Wales, the Welsh Government and several emergency services. Water safety was promoted at events in Llyn Tegid and Llyn Pardarn, with the Fire and Rescue Service demonstrating water safety techniques. Cathays Park One, a prominent Welsh Government building in central Cardiff, turned blue to mark the day.

The World Health Organization held a webinar on 30 July to celebrate the day with contributions from around the world. A recording of the webinar can be viewed here.

Don’t Drink and Drown 

With the Royal Life Saving Society UK’s (RLSS UK) annual Don’t Drink and Drown campaign on 16–22 September 2024, we encourage you to get involved in whatever way you can to show your support.

On average, 73 people lose their lives each year through a substance-related drowning – the equivalent of more than a quarter (29%) of UK accidental drowning fatalities.

Don’t Drink and Drown is about encouraging smart decision-making when drinking and being on, in or around water. The campaign targets students to urge them to be responsible for their friends and #BeAMate if they have had too much to drink, and the campaign educates people on what to do and how to help friends return home safely after a night out. 

Seeking to raise awareness and prevent more tragic drownings from taking place, the RLSS UK team – with the help of partners and volunteers – will be holding informative activities and events in towns and cities across the UK and Ireland.

Please help RLSS UK share vital messages online by resharing its #BeAMate posts and tagging @rlssuk – with your help, we can make this year’s Don’t Drink and Drown campaign the most impactful yet.

However, the work does not stop there… 

RLSS UK is already planning to deliver an impactful December Don’t Drink and Drown campaign so that everyone can enjoy the festivities safely this Christmas period. 

Save the date: 12–20 December 2024 

Get your resources: www.rlss.org.uk/dont-drink-and-drown 

Bath seat safety

RoSPA has updated its key advice around bath seat safety. The key message is: Using a baby bath seat? Always keep your child within arm’s reach.

For babies and young children, bath time is about more than just getting clean – it can be a chance to play or to unwind and relax before bed. However, as fun as bath time can be, sadly accidents still happen.

Always stay within arm’s reach of your little one when they’re in the bath. Wet soapy babies are slippery. If they slide down or roll over, they can’t always right themselves, and you won’t always hear them trying. 

Baby bath seats might look helpful, but can easily topple over, and by leaving your hands free they can provide a false sense of security. As babies can drown quickly, quietly, and in only a few centimetres of water, you’re better off without one – supervision is key.

Read more about the simple steps to make sure our little ones stay safe in the tub... https://www.rospa.com/keeping-kids-safe-hub/bathtime

Coast Clever

The heat has been on for the Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA) to make this year’s Coast Clever summer safety campaign the best yet.

The campaign is primarily aimed at younger males since WAID data shows that males accounted for 83% of all drownings in 2023. With HM Coastguard seeing an increase in incidents throughout the summer, it’s a vital time for sharing coastal safety messaging.

A dramatic case study of a rescue involving four university students was also created alongside the campaign. The students, who matched the key profile of males under 30 from inland cities, were cut off by the tide while on holiday in Whitby. Their ordeal thankfully had a positive outcome, but the group were keen to help promote the campaign and the central message to check tide times.

The campaign has received wide media coverage, including on ITV Meridian, BBC Wales and ITV News.

Download the partner toolkit, including all assets.

Find out more about Coast Clever.

Communicating safety around high-risk river structures

The Environment Agency (EA) has produced a collection of social media messages, videos and stills focusing on water safety at high-risk river structures such as weirs, sluices, locks and moorings. The EA is using these in combination with existing partner campaign materials to target male teens, walkers/runners and enthusiasts who visit such locations. The campaign focuses on highlighting the dangers these structures pose and how to avoid getting into trouble and includes messaging such as #FloatToLive and #CallTellThrow. 

The EA has been using these materials on its Instagram, Facebook and  X channels over the summer and plans to continue doing so over the winter months.

The EA is asking for your help to highlight the dangers these structures pose. All the digital assets are available to freely download from Dropbox and use on your own channels. The EA simply asks that you tag @EnvAgency when you use them.

Guidance

Updates to “Safe supervision of programmed swimming lessons and training sessions in swimming pools”

The Swim England, Scottish Swimming and Swim Wales document, “Safe supervision of programmed swimming lessons and training sessions in swimming pools,” has been updated following the recent revision of HSG179, Managing health and safety in swimming pools.

The main changes since the November 2022 version are:

• What makes a teacher or coach (HSG179 para 102) suitably competent to provide safe supervision for their class/squad?
•  Additional links and references to sections of HSG179.
• Clearer formatting.

You can access the new guidance here.

Public rescue equipment decision tree

The provision of public rescue equipment (PRE) has been a key topic over the past few years in the UK. The NWSF Inland Advisory Group have put together a PRE decision tree to accompany key advice and guidance from the following two documents:

Managing safety at inland waters - RoSPA

Water safety partnerships - Guidance | National Water Safety Forum

The PRE decision tree is free to use and will shortly be online on the NWSF website.

Events

NWSF Flooding webinar: 14 October 2024, 10:00–11:30. Sign-up link: https://events.teams.microsoft.com/event/eaa7aca5-6268-418f-ae6b-d591cc85d51f@49662788-c10b-4940-a0c8-5e016fc28d18

RoSPA Water Safety Conference: 12 March 2025 (location TBC)