Baulkham Waves team member receives Royal Life Saving Excellence in Customer Service award

Christine Mitchell, Customer Service Officer at the Baulkham Waves Fitness and Aquatic Centre in Western Sydney, has been recognised for her work by the Royal Life Saving Society - Australia with her receiving the Excellence in Customer Service award as part of the 2018 National Aquatic Industry Safety Awards.

The award recognises Mitchell’s work as the face of safety water education at Waves orvercoming challenges with service demands, language barriers and understanding and patiently working to teach the community about the dangers of water while also enforcing safety and supervision requirements.

Presented by Royal Life Saving, the National Aquatic Industry Safety Awards acknowledge the work of organisations and individuals for their significant contributions to aquatic safety within their communities.

Amanda Lenton, Baulkham Waves Centre Manager said Mitchell goes over and above in her role, positively influencing the culture at the centre, commenting “during her time at Waves, Christine has been able to lead significant change in consumer awareness, proactively educating parents on the importance of supervision and water safety for children.

“Christine has become the face of the centre, always ready to help, and always with a smile. She has become greatly appreciated and adored by all members of the centre.”

Welcoming her award, Mitchell stated “winning the National Aquatic Industry Safety Award makes me feel so proud to be recognised for doing the work I love to do. It fills me with an incredible sense of achievement and pride knowing I am able to positively communicate the importance of water safety and reinforce that everything you do and say can make a positive difference.”

Between 1st July 2005 and 30th June 2015, there were 293 drowning incidents in public and commercial pools across Australia. 36 of these were fatal (12%).[1]

Commenting on efforts to reduce this toll, Craig Roberts, Royal Life Saving’s National Manager Operations states “drowning deaths and incidents at aquatic facilities are lower than other popular aquatic locations, however, we are continually working to reduce this to 0.”

Images: Christine Mitchell pictured at Baulkham Waves. Courtesy of Royal Life Saving Society - Australia.

[1] Mahony, A, Peden, AE, Roberts, C, Barnsley, P (2018) A 10 year analysis of drowning in Aquatic Facilities: Exploring risk at Communal, Public and Commercial swimming pools, Royal Life Saving Society - Australia.