Drowning deaths in young children are preventable. For more than 25 years, Keep Watch has been advising Australian parents and carers on how to keep their children safe around the water.
Over the past decade (2015 - 2025), 183 children aged 0 to 4 years lost their lives to drowning in Australia, two-thirds (65%) in swimming pools.
Drowning risk for young children peaks in summer, with 35% of all deaths occurring between December and February.
Accidental falls into water were the most common activity prior to drowning (72%), followed by bathing (19%). In that same period, 33 children drowned in bathtubs, with almost four in five (79%) younger than one year old.
Drowning is quick and silent. A momentary lapse of supervision can have tragic consequences. Mobile phones and social media can distract parents long enough for kids to enter a pool area unsupervised. Young children should never be left in the care of older siblings around water.
“It is vital you keep constant watch and restrict access to water around the home. Check that your pool fence and gate are in working order. If there is a lapse in suprvision, a fence can save your child's life” says Dr Justin Scarr, Royal Life Saving Australia CEO.
Almost all of these deaths were due to a lack of active adult supervision.
For every toddler drowning death approximately eight children are admitted to hospital as a result of non-fatal drowning.
Royal Life Saving is asking all parents to Supervise, Restrict, Teach and Respond to keep their children safe around water. Because ‘Kids can’t help themselves around water, you need to. Keep Watch.’
When implemented together, these Keep Watch drowning prevention actions help to maximise child safety around water.
The Keep Watch program is proudly supported by the Australian Government.
Eyes on the prize
Prepare for the unexpected. Always Keep Watch.
Kids will be kids. And we love them all. Cute, funny, quiet, wild, angelic, studious, all of them with their own unique personalities, all of them unpredictable. One day the sidekick and the curious one the next, with everything in between. Which is why we love them even more!
But they have one thing in common: Kids can’t help themselves around water, you need to.
Keep Watch to keep your child safe around water.
Distractions are dangerous
Remain ever vigilant and always watching
Supervision is the single most important thing you can do to keep your children safe around water.
Any distraction is dangerous and puts young children at risk around water. Whether it is a phone or social media use, or carrying out everyday tasks, such as leaving a child unsupervised momentarily to cook, take the rubbish out or collect the washing, no task is worth your child’s life
