Swimming drunk is a deadly mix

Drowning report’s alarming finds

MORE education and awareness is needed around the risks of swimming and drinking as a new report finds men are more likely to drown in Queensland.

Royal Life Saving Society National Education and Training Advisor Dr Shayne Baker OAM said while the 64 people who drowned in Queensland between 2018-2019 was down 12 per cent on a 10-year average, it was still too high.

It was a 2% increase in fatal incidents on the previous year.

The RLSS National Drowning Report, released this week, found 86% of all fatalities were men, with rivers, creeks and dams proving the most deadly locations, accounting for 25% of all drownings.

Dr Baker said while the 10year downward trend was positive, it was “hard to feel confident” with an increase on the 2017-2018 year.

“(Drownings) seem to be linked to the hotter weather,” he said, with the report noting 27 of the 64 drownings occurring in summer.

Dr Baker said the Australian report followed similar global trends with studies finding

men were over-represented in fatalities.

“The figure is one in three were found to have a (blood-alcohol concentration) of 0.05% or higher,” he said.

He said tests had proven even slight alcohol intake when swimming impacted a person’s capacity to function.

Complacency around bodies of water and lack of supervision remained a concern.

“(Ages) zero to four is still a high concern because toddler drownings are still scary with nine children aged under five drowning,” he said.

“Queensland fared very well in this period but the message is we’re now coming into school holidays at the end of the week.”