News location:

Canberra Today 14°/16° | Friday, March 29, 2024 | Digital Edition | Crossword & Sudoku

Summer campaign raises awareness to prevent drowning in Canberra

THE ACT government is raising awareness of pool safety by calling on Canberrans to be backyard lifeguards this summer. pool

Today, Minister for Planning and Land Management, Mick Gentleman announced a summer-long campaign that will be supported by the Royal Life Saving Society Australia and Kidsafe, as well three-time Olympian swimmer, Alicia Coutts.

The campaign addresses one of the recommendations from a Coronial Inquiry into the recent death of a toddler in an ACT backyard swimming pool.

“In the ACT the home swimming pool is the most common location for drowning death and injury of children under the age of five,” says Gentleman.

“As a community we are all responsible for safety around pools and together we can reduce the risk of children drowning in swimming pools in the ACT.

“It’s not only children that live at houses with swimming pools that drown. Children of friends and relatives that may be visiting or children from neighbouring properties are also at risk.

“This is why we are calling on all people who own or live near a pool to be a backyard lifeguard; because the more backyard lifeguards we have, the more children in our community we can keep safe.”

The campaign encourages people to actively supervise children around the pool, know how to perform CPR, teach kids to swim and be safe around pools, check pool safety standards, keep pool surrounding clear of objects that kids can use to climb into the pool area and ensure the gate is shut at all times.

“The campaign concept draws on the positive connection people have with lifesavers/lifeguards and reinforces this message using the recognisable visual of a flag and red and yellow colours commonly associated with surf life saving,” says Gentleman.

“A pool barrier safety checklist has been prepared and is available online and at all public libraries to provide pool owners with the opportunity to see how safe their pool barrier is.”

 

Who can be trusted?

In a world of spin and confusion, there’s never been a more important time to support independent journalism in Canberra.

If you trust our work online and want to enforce the power of independent voices, I invite you to make a small contribution.

Every dollar of support is invested back into our journalism to help keep citynews.com.au strong and free.

Become a supporter

Thank you,

Ian Meikle, editor

Share this

Leave a Reply

Related Posts

Follow us on Instagram @canberracitynews