Water Safety Around the Home

Backyard pools are perhaps the most obvious places which pose a risk of drowning, but even if you do not have a pool at home, the risk of drowning around the home is still very much present. There are many areas both inside the home and around the garden which present as dangers to young children. 

​​The Royal Lifesaving Society Australia (RLSA) have found that drowning deaths have occurred in the following places:

• Swimming pools
• Bathtubs
• Buckets
• Inflatable pools
• Eskies (Once ice melts the risk is greater)
• Pet bowls
• Spas
• Ponds
• Fountains and other water features
• Water tanks
• Drains and irrigation channels
• Dams/rivers/creeks

Often, it is young children and toddlers who are most at risk of drowning in these places and it is often when supervision is lacking and parents or carers attention is diverted. RLSA recommends that when there are known bodies of water around the home, that supervision is constant. Where possible, bodies of water should be removed - bathtubs emptied immediately, ice and liquids removed from eskies, and buckets emptied (particularly following rain). 

The Royal Lifesaving Society Australia also highlights the importance of supervision in social settings, where bodies of water around the home may not always be known and where attention may be divided. On many occasions there may be confusion as to who is watching the children, with adults wrongly assuming somebody else is. To avoid confusion, RLSA advise that in social settings at least one responsible adult is designated the 'child supervisor' at all times.

For more advice and fact sheets, and to read a real life story on an esky drowning death, head to the Royal Life Society Australia's website.