LIWA Aquatics’ WA Aquatic Recreation Conference features tribute to 20 years of Watch Around Water

The achievements of the Watch Around Water program in increasing water safety awareness and preventing drownings over its 20-years of operations has been celebrated this morning at LIWA Aquatics’ WA Aquatic Recreation Conference and Trade Show.

Following the presentation of Watch Around Water awards at the 2024 WA Aquatic Recreation Industry Awards yesterday, today’s opening session of the second day of the LIWA Aquatics’ WA Aquatic Recreation Conference and Trade Show, heard presentations from Tony Head, Royal Life Saving WA’s retiring Remote Pools Coordinator and Watch Around Water co-founder; Francene Leaversuch of the Faculty of Health Sciences at the Curtin Medical School - and the former Chief Executive of Royal Life Saving Society United Kingdom and Health Promotion Manager at Royal Life Saving - WA; Sarahjayne Westberg, Infrastructure & Operations Coordinator at the Cockburn ARC; and Lauren Nimmo, Senior Manager Health Promotion and Research at Royal Life Saving - WA on the history and successes of the program.

An education and awareness campaign run at public swimming pools created by LIWA Aquatics and managed by Royal Life Saving WA, Watch Around Water aims to reduce drowning and aquatic injuries among children through improved parental supervision.

Looking back the period before the launch of Watch Around Water, Head recalled there having been four child drownings in public facilities in the period up to 2004 and how this led to the creation of the program.

Leaversuch then referenced the related Coronial recommendations and the 2003 comment from then Western Australian Coroner Alastair Hope supporting the creation of Watch Around Water.

Coroner Hope stated “no parent wants to experience the grief and distress associated with the drowning of a child, but it is easy to become relaxed in a pool environment.

“If this project succeeds in decreasing the number of drownings and near-drowning incidents in public aquatic facilities in Western Australia for children, it will have achieved a great deal.”

Changing Parental Behaviour
Referencing evaluations of the success of the program, Leaversuch noted “evaluation shows that there is now a lot of awareness among parents of what their supervision responsibilities are and we are seeing a reasonable level of supervision behaviours in many circumstances.

“However, we certainly haven't nailed parental behaviours yet so that, while the there is evidence that the program has made a significant impact we also need to continue pushing the message.”

LIWA Aquatics Board member Westberg cited how the program has succeed in changing community  attitudes, adding “we now have parents out there who only grew up with Watch Around water, and they're now bringing their kids to the pool, which means we now live in a world where more people know about Watch Around Water than they did before.

“So when you're having those conversations, it's not as hard to get the message across because they're not hearing it for the first time.”

Completing the presentation, Nimmo went on to say “its success is shown by no child having drowned in a public pool in Western Australia since its creation.”

During its two decade history, Watch Around Water has also been widely adopted by facilities in South Australia and Victoria.