Concerns on Higher Rates of Drowning in Australia Statistics

The spike in the number of drowning related deaths of 20% in the last 12 months has the Royal Life Saving Australia concerned. 294 deaths last financial year which is a stark increase.

COVID Lockdowns mean many people are turning to the oceans and rivers to get their daily dose of exercise.

Stay at home restrictions have meant we are keen to get out and explore closer to home and often seek out secluded locations. Even when we are holidaying we are often going to locations that we are unfamiliar with closer to home. This impacts the difficulty of getting emergency services to these locations. Rivers and creek drowning are up 50% this year. 

The advice from water safety experts is to check with locals before going swimming. Strong currents are a main concern in rivers and you can’t always see the depth are major drowning risks in inland waterways. 

The Royal Life Saving National Drowning report showed young children under 5 are another huge concern considering 25 children have died this year, a 108% increase from the previous year and a 9% increase on the 10-year average. Although young children are always a concern particularly when it comes to drowning deaths, the group aged 25-34 years recorded 17% of all drowning deaths, the highest amongst all age groups. 

The contributing factors are parents working from home and home-schooling. The home environment is incredibly risky for young children. In many cases the increase in home drowning are caused by a lapse in adult supervision and parents multitasking. 

It only takes a few cm for a young child to die.

Going into summer, young children's confidence in the water is surely going to take a dive as swimming lessons and water confidence awareness classes have been cancelled during COVID lockdowns. 

Children missing out on water safety lessons will have an impact on pre-school children and ultimately teenage years unless parents are vigilant in re-enrolling kids as soon as restrictions ease. 

Although this restricts the use of public swimming pools, more opportunities to use the pool in your backyard as stay at home restrictions continue. 

Don’t leave anything to chance every drowning devastates families and communities. 

In line with new Victoria legislation get your pool barrier inspected by a VBA licenced inspector.  At Pool Safety Check we will work with you to get your pool barrier compliant.