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Drowning Prevention and Water Safety Week
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FIRE Correspondent Catherine Levin reports on the Chief Fire Officers Association’s inaugural Drowning Prevention and Water Safety Week from April 13-19
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Campaign poster by Tilly Baker, a second year student at the School of Visual Communication, University of Wales Trinity Saint David, Swansea
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awn Whittaker, Brigade Manager for Northamptonshire Fire and Rescue Service, tells the story of a young girl who was out with her friends, swimming in a local river when she got into difficulties. Out of her depth, sucked down under the water by a whirlpool and debris trapping her from moving, this young girl was lucky that her friends got to her quickly and helped her, pulling her to safety. Dawn explains she was that 16-year-old girl, a student in South Wales, over 30 years ago. Years later, Dawn is now the CFOA lead for drowning prevention and water safety. She talks with great passion about the need to raise awareness, particularly among young people about the risks of open water. This year, for the first time, CFOA is holding an awareness week focused on Drowning Prevention and Water Safety. CFOA are hopeful that fire and rescue services all over the UK will be planning events and awareness raising during the week, which runs from April 13-19. It has been scheduled in April to start the water safety awareness year early, as drownings take place throughout the year. “This is a community safety issue,” says Dawn “and management of community risks presented by water is something that all fire and rescue services should be involved in.” Some services are, with well-developed plans and strategies in place, but many are not. To help out, CFOA has produced a toolkit for fire and rescue services. This sets out the need for a data and intelligence-led approach to targeting prevention work for drowning prevention, whether it is location-based (a known part of a river or quarry) or from a community profile angle (ages or activities for example). There is also an economic case to be made for fire and rescue services getting involved in drowning prevention work. The cost of swift water rescue is high and the amount of resources required a drain on diminishing budgets. Improving awareness of the dangers of open water like rivers and closed environments like quarries could make a real difference to the number of call outs, injuries and fatalities. This year’s campaign focuses on the 15-30 year age group and the dangers of cold water shock. This is the body’s short-term involuntary response to suddenly being immersed in cold 20 | April 2015 | www.fire–magazine.com
"Management of community risks presented by water is something that all fire and rescue
water. According to Dawn, it “can make you feel numb, like you’ve turned to stone”. The poster shown here, a winning design from student Tilly Baker from the University of Wales, provides a vivid image about what it feels like to suffer from cold water shock. Beckie Ramsay knows this more than most. Her son Dylan drowned in open water in 2011. He was just 13-years-old. Since Dylan’s tragic and untimely death, Beckie has devoted herself to a water safety campaign called ‘Doing it for Dylan’. She’s been working as a volunteer for Greater Manchester Fire and Rescue Service, visiting schools and sharing her experience with young people and spreading the prevention message – she is a Water Safety Advocate and passionate about stopping other families going through the same loss. It is great to see this kind of partnership working; on a national level there are plenty of opportunities for fire and rescue services to work with organisations like the Royal Life Saving Society and the Royal National Lifeboat Institute. Whilst the focus of this awareness week is very much on reminding young people of the hidden dangers of rivers and other inland water that may look safe and inviting in the warm months, the messages are certainly relevant all year round. Tweet using @CFOAFire and #drowningprevention
services should be involved in”
More information about Drowning Prevention and Water Safety Week is available from the CFOA website. www.cfoa.org.uk/ CFOADrowningPreventionWaterSafetyWeek
To find out more about the Doing it for Dylan campaign visit www.facebook.com/ doingitfordylan #doingitfordylan