08/09/2022
NWSF Newsletter - September 2022
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08/09/2022
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25/07/2022
If you see someone struggling in the water this summer, Make the Right Call, Call 999 – Respect The Water'
The key campaign advice is:
• Call 999 – ask for Fire & Rescue if inland or the Coastguard
if by the sea
• Tell the struggling person to try to float on their back
• Throw them something that floats
That is the advice from the National Water Safety Forum (NWSF) which is today responding to the UN’s global World Drowning Prevention Day to launch the UK’s largest ever drowning prevention campaign, #RespectTheWater.
The film featured in the campaign, is being widely aired across the UK today and over the next few weeks.
The Forum’s aim is to halve by 2026 the number of people in the UK who accidentally die in the water each year.
• 277 people accidentally drowned in 2021 in UK, with 47% of these deaths in the 3 summer months; July worst month (Source: WAID)
• Significant majority - 62% - drowned inland, especially in rivers, lakes & canals
• Multiple interviewees including case studies from Nottingham, Newcastle-upon-Tyne & Hastings
• Events in Wales, Scotland, Belfast, Manchester, London, Birmingham, Worcester & Gloucester
Sadly,this summer has already seen several high-profile cases of people drowning after going into water to cool off in the soaring temperatures.
277 people accidentally drowned in 2021 in the UK. Almost half of these - 130 - were in the three summer months, including 63 last July alone.
Contrary perhaps to popular imagination, most accidental drownings occur inland: 168 or 62% in 2021. With all UK schools now out for summer, rivers, lakes, canals, flooded quarries and reservoirs are set to get increasingly busy, though many are perhaps unaware of the dangers that these cold, freshwater settings can pose, even when air temperatures are very high.
While a large number of people (81) accidentally drowned at the beach or on the coast, at 29% of all such fatalities, this is less than half of the number that drowned inland.
83% of all last year’s fatalities were men.
The Forum is an umbrella group of over 50 organisations that have united for the first time this summer to launch the campaign on the UN’s global World Drowning Prevention Day. They include the Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI), HM Coastguard (HMCG), National Fire Chiefs Council (NFCC) Royal Society for Prevention of Accidents (RoSPA), Royal Lifesaving Society (RLSS), Canal & River Trust, Mineral Products Association, Swim England, Water Safety Scotland (WSS), Water Safety Wales (WSW) and many more.
Campaign website: Make the Right Call, Call 999 – Respect The Water
21/07/2022
Dear all,
The UK’s National Water Safety Forum is coming together to launch its first ever campaign, Respect The Water, in response the World Health Organisation (WHO) call to ‘do one thing’ to prevent drowning ahead of the second ever United Nations (UN) World Drowning Prevention Day on Monday 25th July.
The campaign focuses on who to call if you see someone struggling in the water, reminding the public that for inland locations you should call 999 and ask for the Fire and Rescue Service, but for coastal locations you should call 999 and ask for Coastguard.
As part of this lifesaving campaign, we are releasing a new & impactful water safety advert which will be shown on ITV on World Drowning Prevention Day, together with targeted advertising in high drowning areas using catch up TV, outdoor posters and social media. There will also be a significant PR push to secure media coverage during the campaign to amplify these important messages to the public at the height of summer.
For a full run through of the campaign you can watch a recorded briefing here - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wrmHLZo7Z5Q
Key activity
How to get involved in the campaign
On behalf of the National Water Safety Forum communications and coordinating groups - we hope that you have a successful World Drowning Prevention Day and look forward to seeing your images and stories.
Social media suggestions
Suggested messages for NWSF members for the launch of our Respect The Water campaign on 25 July 2022.
All the campaign content will be available at www.respectthewater.com from this weekend, if you are a social media manger or need access to content earlier please drop a us a line.
These can be tweaked for individual organisations.
22- 24th Leading up to the day
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25th On the day
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Days/week after tweets
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Softer touch tweets
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11/07/2022
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11/05/2022
As I write this message, the first of our annual calendar of water safety campaigns for 2022 has just taken place Calendar | National Water Safety Forum.
The National Fire Chief’s Council has been running the #BeWaterAware campaign for several years now. Fire and Rescue Services around the UK, together with partners held events and shared water safety messages. The toolkit is available to download here all year with free to use resources.
You will also see from the calendar that the Royal Life Saving Society’s annual Drowning Prevention Week awareness campaign occurs in June. Also the second World Drowning Prevention Day looms on 25th July. I am very much looking forward to seeing what our members and all water safety advocates are planning to highlight water safety, including the mental health and physical benefits of enjoying the water safely.
Colleagues in the NWSF have been busy and we have some exciting news (below) about the appointment of a marketing company to help us promote #RespectTheWater as our overarching branding and water safety campaign. Water Safety Scotland recently held a symposium to highlight the works and initiatives in Scotland, and Water Safety Wales are continuing with their work, including supporting the second petition hearing we mentioned in the last newsletter.
Talking of public petitions, I was very proud to be invited as a guest to the Houses of Parliament by Rebecca Ramsey who was declared the winner of the petitioner of the year for her campaign to secure a class based lesson on water safety in schools. Discussions about this are ongoing with the Department of Education, but I know I speak for all members of NWSF when I congratulate Beckie for her tireless work on water safety through her campaign #DoingItForDylan and for her prestigious award.
This year’s data release is now published and the work on our WAID2 project continues. I am looking forward to the forthcoming demonstration of our new system, which will provide more dynamic information and a more accessible platform about water incidents and risks. This work is of vital importance to us all, as good quality data will help us target and shape of work to reduce risk and save more lives.
Finally, can I thank you all in advance for the support you will give to #RespectTheWater and our various campaigns this year – the only way to promote safety in water is through united messaging and collaboration.
Until next time
Dawn Whittaker
Chair of NWSF
Public urged to take care near water as latest statistics show accidental drowning deaths increased again last year, with more dying inland than around the coast.
The National Water Safety Forum has appointed krow, part of The MISSION Group, to oversee the strategy, creative ideation and activation of its Respect the Water (RTW) initiative.
John Quarrey, CEO of krow Group, commented: “We’re thrilled about being appointed by the NWSF, and excited about working with the team to create new, disruptive ways of speaking to our audience to help save lives.”
krow secured the campaign in a competitive pitch run directly by the National Water Safety Forum (NWSF).
David Walker, Head of Road and Leisure at RoSPA, said: “We are incredibly excited to work with krow Group on what will be a new phase for RTW and drowning prevention in the UK.”
Tragically, on average, around 400 people drown in the UK every year; because of this, one of NWSF’s principal aims is to reduce accidental drowning fatalities in the UK by 50% by 2026. Current drowning figures show a clear gender divide, with men accounting for the vast majority of those who die. Therefore the campaign is primarily aimed at men, but the safety advice is just as relevant for anyone who finds themselves in difficulty in open water, both at the coast or inland.
The RTW campaign was first established by the Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI) and has now grown into a national brand for water safety and drowning prevention campaigns through the NWSF, bringing together all strands of water safety across the UK, in a bid to help reduce the number of accidental drownings.
Drowning Prevention Week is just around the corner and we must continue to roll up our sleeves to address the current upward trend of accidental drowning in the UK.
In a recent RLSS UK survey we found that around two-thirds of UK adults have never had any formal training or education in water safety. Drowning Prevention Week (DPW) is the next opportunity to engage our communities in effective water safety advice.
All of the information for this years’ campaign can be found at https://www.rlss.org.uk/Pages/Category/drowning-prevention-week-campaign
There are posters and social media graphics available in both English and Welsh, plus a range of materials to help positively engage communities in water safety training. NEW animation that will help young children understand how to go from being fearful of the water to being water proficient is coming soon.
Here’s a reminder of how you can get involved:
Congratulations to North West Water Safety petitioner Beckie Ramsay who won the Petition Campaign of the Year Award at the Your UK Parliament Awards in an event held in the Speaker’s State Rooms in the Palace of Westminster. This recognition follows her campaigning on the issue of water safety.
Beckie, from Preston, started the petition to “increase curriculum content about water safety as part of swimming lessons” after her son Dylan drowned in 2011 following difficulty while swimming in a disused quarry with friends. The petition received more than 108,000 signatures.
Since Dylan’s death, Beckie has worked with the police and sector bodies such as the National Water Safety Forum and the Royal National Lifeboat Institution to raise awareness of the risks of open water. She has also spoken about water safety to over 180,000 children in schools, and was awarded a British Empire Medal (BEM) in 2019 for ‘services to the Prevention of Water Related Accidents’.
Through tireless campaigning in the eleven years since the tragic death of her beloved son Dylan, Beckie has educated hundreds of thousands of young people about the dangers of open water. She has built support from across the water safety sector for changes to our education system which could save other families from suffering similar tragedy.