ROYAL Life Saving urges all Australians to check the backyard swimming pool this weekend as latest horrific figures show that in the past 12 months 32 young children aged 0-4 died in preventable drowning tragedies.
A total of 59% of the deaths were in swimming pools.
Royal Life Saving chief executive Rob Bradley said thousands of pools were potential death traps because of loose, unsafe fencing or fence gates that were not working properly.
He highlighted home swimming pools were the most dangerous aquatic locations for young children.
In the past 12 months toddler drowning deaths in Australia have risen dramatically against the five year average.
Thirty-two children aged 0-4 died in drowning tragedies over the past year.
Of these, 59 per cent were in swimming pools, 84 per cent of the children fell or wandered into water and 41 per cent of the deaths happened during summer.
The Keep Watch campaign is once again being supported by the healthy pool people PoolWerx who are mobilising their entire network of franchisees to help Royal Life Saving get vital pool safety messages across to thousands of Australians.
PoolWerx chief executive John O’Brien said the network of retail hubs and mobile service vans across Australia were united in helping promote the vital Keep Watch message.
This year’s campaign has a central message of ‘make this weekend your home pool safety weekend’.
Mr Bradley said one of the big problems was that people may think their pool fencing was perfectly safe when in fact erosion, storm damage or wear and tear may well have created weakness in the fencing.
He also warned many people left pool gates propped open or have gates that closed but not lock.
He said both issues could potentially lead to tragedy.
Mr Bradley said home swimming pools were the most dangerous aquatic locations for young children and had been clearly recognised as a priority area in the Australian Water Safety Strategy that covers the period 2008-2011.
“Tragically all too often after a drowning death we hear parents telling us they were going to get around to fixing a safety issue with the pool,” he said.
“We’ve made it really easy for everybody by creating a simple and effective pool safety checklist which doesn’t take long to fill out and takes people through key issues.
“Just go to homepoolsafety.com.au to see the checklist and get lots of tips so you can be vigilant all year round.
“We’re deeply concerned that research shows that in some areas of Australia up to 80 per cent of pools are simply non compliant with current safety standards.
“Swimming pool fences should be no more than 100mm from the ground and should be at least 1.2m high with no vertical gaps more than 100mm apart,” Mr Bradley said.
Olympic swimming star Samantha Riley is once again backing the Keep Watch program and she’s urging all parents around the nation to be vigilant and to visit homepoolsafety.com.au to get free fact sheets and the home pool safety checklist.
Mr Bradley said all drowning deaths were preventable and effective fencing and supervision could reduce tragedies.
He said most toddler drownings were unfortunately silent deaths and if a child got into a backyard pool unsupervised it could literally be a matter of seconds before tragedy strikes.
On top of the toddler drowning deaths that take place each year, there are many more near drowning incidents where children may suffer brain damage as a result of the incident.
Royal Life Saving says for every drowning death there are about four hospitalisations.
Of those, one or two will have permanent brain damage.
Mr Bradley said defective fencing was dangerous and the problem may not be visible until tragedy strikes.
“We can’t afford to be complacent,” he said.
“Run the safety checks.
“Well established suburbs often have issues because the pool fencing may have been there for a long time – or there may be no fencing at all.
“Any vegetation growing around a pool should be cut back because young, curious kids often use this to climb into a pool.
“Always make sure pool chemicals are stored securely out of reach of children.
“We have no doubt people underestimate the dangers around a home pool.
“All pools in Australia have to be fenced.
“It’s a legal requirement,” Mr Bradley said.
He added that it had been a horror year in the past 12 months for drowning deaths and real wake up call.
“We urge the community to be vigilant because there’s such a massive impact on all the parents, relatives and friends left behind after each drowning tragedy,” he said.
“Obviously we want people to have fun.
“Time spent in water helps children physical and intellectual development and obviously the ability to safely enjoy water benefits us throughout our life.”
The 2009 Keep Watch campaign is also being supported by the Samuel Morris Foundation.
Samuel was tragically affected after a near drowning incident in 2006 that left him with severe brain injury and lifelong disabilities.
Samuel’s father Michael Morris said he urged everybody to check their pool safety really carefully. “We can all do more to prevent drownings,” he said.
“My son was changed forever after a near drowning experience when he got into our pool by shaking a faulty panel which came away and gave him access to the pool.
“We didn’t know the panel was faulty and it wasn’t until later we came to understand our pool fence had never been inspected properly.
“We assumed when we moved in that the fence complied with Australian standards.
“It didn’t.
“This could happen to anybody, and you cannot make assumptions about the safety of our children which is why everyone should do the home pool safety checklist.”
Mr Bradley added on rural properties it was not realistic to fence off a dam or lake.
“We suggest creating a child safe area near to your home and away from the body of water which needs to be enclosed and supervised at all times,” he said.
Royal Life Saving also pointed out a major survey undertaken by Choice magazine that out of 31 pool fencing materials, 18 did not meet Australian safety standards.
Mr Bradley said the key was to supervise, learn resuscitation, familiarise your child with water and fence your pool and lock the gate.
“Keep Watch means constant active supervision, not an occasional glance so that you can have great fun over summer,” he said.
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