Life Saving Victoria launches new SwimSafe safety campaign for public pools

Born out of coronial recommendations and following several years of research, Life Saving Victoria has launched its SwimSafe public safety campaign for public pools.

The new SwimSafe public education campaign has been evidenced as being effective at communicating key safety messages to adult vulnerable swimmers and has been proven in research to be effective at educating both staff and patrons on the vulnerabilities of weak and non-swimmers, those from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds and those with pre-existing medical conditions or disabilities about the hazards associated with aquatic environments and encourages these patrons to ask staff for ‘five-tips’ to help them ‘swim safe’ in the pool.

The Watch Around Water-like program is now available for facilities to sign up to and be sent a suite of campaign resources including display materials and training resources.

The campaign is broken into four key components:

• Display and communication of SwimSafe campaign resources
• Identification of vulnerable patrons
• Communication of the ‘five-tips’
• Staff training on water safety including multicultural and disability awareness

Introducing says initiative, LSV Pool Safety Manager, RJ Houston stated “SwimSafe is a key step towards making public pools safer for adult vulnerable swimmers and those that staff traditionally have not either realised were at risk or been equipped to deliver key messages in a non-confronting way.

"Drowning research has been telling us for years that we need to better engage with CALD communities, those with pre-existing medical conditions and those with disabilities in order to ensure every visit to public pools is safe and enjoyable and SwimSafe has now delivered an evidence-based solution to aquatic facility managers and their staff.”

Facilities wanting to register for SwimSafe accreditation should contact the LSV Pool Safety Team on 03 9676 6985 or go to lsv.com.au/pool-safety-services/swimsafe/