Parents urged to act on drownings

Royal Life Saving Society WA is calling for more action to prevent drownings after its National Drowning Report stated 20 per cent of the 266 drowning deaths in the past financial year were children under four years old.

According to Royal Life Saving Society WA health promotion and research senior manager Lauren Nimmo, there have been nine drowning deaths in Peel in the past two years.

She said at-risk groups included children aged zero to four years old and people aged 15 to 24-years-old, using home swimming pools or the Peel-Harvey Estuary.

Aqua Jetty swim school co-ordinator Naomi Dunn said it was imperative parents familiarised their children with water in the bath or in a home pool, and enrolled them in lessons from about five months old.

She said often parents confused pool confidence for swimming ability and enrolled children in higher levels than what they were capable of, which disadvantaged the child further.

Miss Dunn said parents needed to pay attention to what teachers were teaching and reinforce it at home, either at the beach or in a pool.

She said all age groups were taught on some level how to float and get themselves out of trouble.

Miss Nimmo agreed lessons and supervision were key factors in child water safety and recommended every parent learns how to perform CPR as they were often the first person to respond in an emergency.

The warning to the 15 to 24-year- old age group comes after a spike in the category's 10-year average, where the leading location for drowning deaths, at 34 per cent, was in rivers, creeks or streams.

The report stated almost half of the deaths in this age group were as a result of swimming and recreation, and in 75 per cent of the cases the amount of alcohol consumed directly contributed to the fatal drowning.

It also found 21 per cent drowned as a result of falling into the water and 16 per cent used watercraft immediately prior to drowning.

Miss Nimmo said boaters and fishers should always fish with someone else, observe the conditions, wear a lifejacket and carry appropriate safety equipment.