Seven Drownings in the past week
Today we were reminded by Simone Fox Koob from the Australian about the importance of water safety for both non swimmers and swimmers. We have also included The Royal Lifesaving Society ‘s tips below.As most of us are enjoying our holidays we should all remain mindful of being safe in the water. If you are with family and friends you can ask these questions 1. Who is allocated to supervise the group and what are there competencies in the water. 2. What is the swimming ability of both Adults and children in the group. 3. Who are the competent swimmers in the group.
The Royal Life Saving Society has some great tips of Water Safety during the summer for toddlers here.
ALL OF YOUR ATTENTION, ALL OF THE TIME
Active supervision means focusing all of your attention on your children all of the time, when they are in, on or around the water. Supervision is not an occasional glance while you are busy with other activities, but being in constant visual contact with your child.
Depending on your child’s age, you may even need to be in the water and within arms reach at all times. For older children, be ready to enter the water in case of an emergency.
Parents are busy and often try to do many things at once to save time. But when you multi-task you can too easily become distracted and not give your full attention to the safety of your children.
Older children too are not equipped to deal with the responsibility of supervising children. It is an adult’s job and children of any age should never be burdened with the responsibility.
Royal Life Saving believes that one of the smartest ways to supervise children is to have a designated supervisor. Responsibility can be rotated and if there is a large number of children to supervise, leave an adult stationed at each different place where the children will play, to monitor that area effectively.
Seven drownings prompt urgent police warning on water safety
Seven NSW drownings in the past week have brought an urgent warning from police, in the lead-up to a statewide heatwave, for holiday-makers to stay out of the water if they don’t know how to swim.
Sergeant Paul Farquharson, of the NSW Marine Area Command said yesterday the drownings were tragic for both victims’ families and police officers who spent their Christmas recovering bodies and delivering the bad news to relatives.
“It’s upsetting and frustrating for the police to have to try to recover these people, search for these people, and then deliver those messages to the families that their loved ones have died,” he said.
“ The police haven’t been home to their families … They have been out looking for those of others who have become lost in the water systems.”
The body of a 25-year-old man was found yesterday in the Nepean River, near Greendale in western Sydney, after he was reported missing on Monday.
On Monday Geoffrey Blackadder, 60, from Grafton, tried to help save four children caught in a flash rip at Wooli Beach on the northern NSW coast.
Mr Blackadder was brought unconscious from the water by two lifeguards but after 50 minutes of CPR could not be revived.
Also on Monday, a 56-year-old man died at Merry Beach, on the NSW south coast; and a 27-year-old man drowned while swimming in a river at a picnic ground at Bendeela, in the Kangaroo Valley. On Christmas Day a 29-year-old Nepalese man drowned at Wattamolla lagoon at the Royal National Park, south of Sydney.
Police said a man drowned about 3pm yesterday in ocean baths at The Entrance on the central coast.
Last season, there were 53 coastal drownings in NSW.
Quoted from “The Australian”
