Water Safety NZ and Plunket bath mat project

Water Safety NZ (WSNZ) and Plunket are launching an exciting new water safety initiative aimed at creating better water safety awareness and ultimately reducing the drowning rate of young children in NZ.

A contract has been signed between the two organisations and work has progressed to the point where the project is ready to roll out.

Mats have been delivered to Plunket Areas throughout NZ and the project is about to be launched.

This water safety project will create greater awareness and educate parents and caregivers on the importance of water safety for young children, and ultimately reducing the drowning rate in children under five years of age.

Plunket staff who were introduced to the project at the 2009 Rotorua conference were enthusiastic about the initiative.

The statistics tell us drowning of children under five years of age in NZ continues to be high.

In the last 10 years (2000-2009), 90 under fives have drowned¹. Fifty-eight per cent of those under fives drowned while at home, the majority being in a home pool or bath.

Research undertaken in 2005 into circumstances surrounding drowning in those under 25 in NZ (1980-2002)² (the research) concluded the following:

“Drowning, although reducing in incidence is still a leading cause of death amongst NZ children and youth. Given the enormous social and economic cost of drowning and the preventable nature of those deaths, it is a problem worthy of our attention.

“Policy is in place to reduce toddler death in home pools, but attention needs to be given to enforcing compliance with legislation and further research would be useful to evaluate the effectiveness of this.

“Parents need to be educated by doctors, alliedhealth professionals and media about the importance of supervision of infants and young children while they are near any body of water, especially in the bathtub or swimming pools.”

The research went onto make the following key points:

• All children under the age of three years should be constantly supervised in the bath by an adult.
   
• Children under the age of five years should not be left to supervise younger children in the bath.
   
• All home pools need to be fenced in regulation with the Fencing of Swimming Pools Act 1987, with attention to ongoing compliance. Gates should never be propped open.
   
• Adults need to closely supervise toddlers while they are near any body of water.

¹    DrownBase™.

²    Circumstances Surrounding Drowning in Those Under 25 in NZ (1980-2002). Child and Youth Mortality Review Committee, 2005.