AusLeisure

With more than 50 Australians having lost their lives to drowning incidents over the summer period, water safety advocate Laurie Lawrence is calling on party organisers to nominate a ‘Responsible Pool Person’ to watch over swimmers at community and family events near water over the Australia Day weekend.

Lawrence has joined with Poolwerx - for whom he acts as an ambassador – to advise that nominating a designated adult to supervise swimmers is one of the safest ways to avert tragedy.

The former Olympic swimming coach states “kids, in particular, can get themselves into trouble very quickly in pools and with so much going on at parties, it’s not good enough to just expect that someone will be keeping an eye on swimmers.

“Poolwerx has created the concept of nominating a Responsible Pool Person for parties to ensure safety is a priority and that someone is dedicated to supervision and not distracted.”

Lawrence and Poolwerx offer the following tips for safe waterside gatherings this Australia Day:

• Keep your pool area safe: Ensure pool fencing and self-closing gates and lockable latches are working properly, have a compliant CPR chart displayed within your pool area and ensure there are no objects surrounding the pool a child could use to climb on to and enter the pool area.
• Appoint a ‘Responsible Pool Person’: Nominate a person or a number of people to take turns being the ‘Responsible Pool Person’ to ensure supervision is constant in the pool area for every swimmer experienced or otherwise.
• Keep your pool water healthy: Ensure water is balanced and fi for swimming by maintaining healthy pH and Chlorine levels. Chlorine levels should remain at 3-5 Parts Per Million (PPM) and pH levels should be between 7.2 and 7.6.
• Don’t drink and swim: Don’t swim while intoxicated and avoid bringing glass products into the pool area.
• Stay sun safe: Ensure adequate protection from the sun – sunscreen, hats, sunglasses and water are must-haves.

For more information go to www.poolwerx.com.au/responsible/

Related Articles

16th January 2019 - Parents urged to enrol children in vital Swim and Survive lessons

31st December 2018 - Federal Minister says number of holiday drownings is unacceptably high 

7th December 2018 - Australian Water Safety council addresses drowning among multicultural communities

26th October 2018 - Keep Watch research shows alarming scale of toddler drowning

12th September 2018 - Drowning Deaths decrease but Life Saving bodies urge against water safety complacency

25th July 2018 - Poolwerx water safety initiative aims to save young lives

22nd September 2016 - 300 swim schools to participate in Learn to Swim Week 2016

13th December 2014 - Poolwerx study shows Australians unsure on commercial pool hygiene

7th September 2014 - Federal Government backs Laurie Lawrence’s anti-drowning initiative

4th November 2013 - Parents value swimming and water safety lessons above other out-of-school activities

20th November 2012 - Research suggests swimming makes children smarter

7th December 2010 - Laurie Lawrence Shares tips for a Water-safe Summer

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