After beach drownings ... the plan to prevent more loss of life
CAMPAIGNERS are calling for the appointment of a dedicated Scottish “water safety” minister after 12 people died in just five days following a series of tragic incidents around the UK coast. Safety experts want the new appointment made as it emerged the number of deaths from drowning per year is higher than the toll of fatalities from fire and cycling combined.
Victims of the recent spate of drownings include Julie Walker and her six-year-old son Lucas, who lost their lives off Aberdeen last Saturday. He was paddling in the water when he was swept out to sea and his mother died trying to save him.
In another horrifying incident, five men died at Camber Sands beach, in East Sussex, last Wednesday. The friends, in their late teens and early twenties, are believed got to have into difficulty as the tide raced in.
But cases of accidental drowning are far from unusual. A total of 50 people lost their lives in this way in Scotland last year. And water safety charities have warned the chance of drowning in Scotland is statistically double that in England.
Kenny MacDermid, UK national drowning prevention co-ordinator with the Royal Life Saving Society (RLSS), said there was no single factor to explain the differences between the countries.
He said: “Figures show over the past five years per head of population, your chances of drowning in Scotland are double that of England.
“There is nothing we can pinpoint to say exactly why that is the reason, but a combination of factors doesn’t help – easier access to water, a huge coastline and that swimming is not part of the (school) curriculum.”
There were 41 fire fatalities recorded in 2014-15 in Scotland and five cyclist deaths last year.
MacDermid said while an emphasis was put on equipping children with safe cycling skills, for example, there was less attention paid to making sure they are aware of the risks around water.
“Parents know their child does cycling proficiency at school – but in the past few years, more people have died from drowning than cycling accidents,” he said.
He pointed out that awareness-raising campaigns and school education programmes around water safety relied on being run and funded by charities such as the RLSS and Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI).
“We would certainly embrace any Government support for the drowning prevention issue,” he said. “Water safety doesn’t fit under any Scottish minister’s portfolio, it sits across departments – so we would be delighted for further Scottish Government support and someone to have a portfolio for water safety within the Cabinet.”
SHARON Macdonald, director of development at Scottish Swimming, the sport’s governing body, pointed out school swimming was not part of the national curriculum in Scotland, unlike in England and Wales.
She said: “It therefore means it is down to each individual local authority whether they provide school swimming or not.
“We do know the statistics are that roughly around 40 per cent of children leaving primary school are unable to swim 25 metres.”
Macdonald said while the aim of Scottish Swimming was for every child to learn to swim, plans are also in place to roll out water safety programmes across schools, including a partnership with the RNLI to deliver a Swim Safe programme north of the Border in 2017 which has been piloted in England.
Detailed statistics on drowning incidents in Scotland were only collated for the first time in 2015. The figures, from the National Water Safety Forum, show there were 96 fatal incidents, including accidents, natural causes, suicide, crime and cases where the cause was not recorded.
Nearly one-third of the 50 accidental fatalities, a total of 15, involved commercial activities such as fishing. But one in five deaths, 10 in all, happened while people were walking or running near water.
Seven fatalities were recorded among anglers, three among swimmers and two happened as a result of jumping or diving into water. One scuba-diving fatality was recorded – as well as one death under the category of drowning in a bath, which includes Jacuzzis and hot tubs.
UK statistics also suggest in more than 40 per cent of fatal drownings, the victim had no intention of entering the water.
Michael Avril, RNLI community incident reduction manager, said: “We are finding a lot of people are getting into trouble doing things like walking along a beach, taking the dog for a walk and getting caught out by the tide, being caught by a wave and pulled into the water.”
Recent figures from the RNLI also show the number of people who lost their lives around Scotland’s coast last year increased by 63 per cent – with 39 deaths in 2015 compared to 24 the previous year.
In June, it launched an annual Re- spect the Water campaign targeted at adult men, who are involved in most of these cases. Between 2011 and 2014, men accounted for more than three-quarters – 76 per cent – of Scottish coastal deaths but, in 2015, this jumped to 92 per cent.
Avril added: “We try to record every single incident where someone ends up in the water and dies – there is research going on to try to be better informed on where people are getting into trouble so we can start to identify what kind of interventions are required.
“Nationally, the problem is a certain group and almost certainly drink is involved in quite a few of them.”
The first-ever UK Drowning Prevention Strategy was published in March this year, with the aim of halving drowning fatalities by 2026.
Avril said action was also being taken through Water Safety Scotland – a coalition of charities including the RNLI, RLSS and the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents, as well as the police, the fire service and government – which has been set up to
The statistics are that around 40 per cent of children leaving primary school are unable to swim 25 metres
try to prevent drownings in Scotland. He said: “In Scotland, we have a lot of water, so there are a lot of areas where there are dangers. But the good news is people are working to try and prevent these deaths happening.”
A spokesman for the Scottish government said the portfolio for minister for community safety Annabelle Ewing included community safety matters and the Scottish Fire and Rescue service.
He said: “We are providing £104,000 in 2016-17 to the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents (RoSPA) to enable it to continue to deliver its Home and Water Safety programme.
“RoSPA has formed Water Safety Scotland (WSS) to develop a water safety strategy. It involves partner organisations, including the Scottish Government.
“The Scottish Fire and Rescue Service also works with organisations, including WSS, Police Scotland, Royal Life Saving Society and local authorities in various water safety initiatives across the country.”