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.
