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PUBLIC NOTICE: Preventing Drowning Tragedies

 

Stay safe around water this festive season by following these practical drowning prevention strategies: 

  • Learn life-saving skills, including the basics of swimming and cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR). 
  • Know who to call in an emergency.  
  • Fence ponds, pools and water storage: Install a four-sided isolation fence at least 1.2m high with a self-closing and self-latching gate to control access to bodies of water. 
  • Be on the lookout. Drownings happen quickly and quietly. Never leave children to supervise each other. A responsible adult must always watch out for children near a pool, Jacuzzi, or natural body of water. 
  • Stay within arm’s length of children under four around water. 
  • Don’t drink or be distracted by work, phone calls, technology, or anything else that may absorb your attention when watching children. 
  • Fit a pool net immediately after swimming and replace it every time. 
  • Don’t rely on armbands, floating toys, inner tubes, or devices to keep children safe. 
  • Teach children to swim, but never leave them unsupervised around water. 
  • Consider installing alarms. Various water alarms, such as a floating pool alarm or external security beams, can be installed to add to the precautions of fencing and supervision. 
  • Beware of drains. Children must be kept away from pool or Jacuzzi drains as hair or limbs could become trapped in the suction. 
  • Toilets, bathtubs, water features, fish tanks, pet water bowls and buckets. Children can drown wherever there is access to water, and a baby can drown in just 2.5cm of water. 

 

EMERGENCY NUMBERS: 

  • After-Hours and Emergencies: 044 801 6300 
  • Toll-Free Disaster Number: 087 152 9999 
  • NSRI (National Sea Rescue Institute): 082 990 5955 ǀ 087 094 9774 

 

Stay alert and make water safety a priority to prevent drowning tragedies.