Irish Water Safety has emphasised the need for some water safety education to be made compulsory in schools – and a pool isn’t needed.
“Water Safety should become a feature on every primary school’s curriculum”, said Roger Sweeney, Deputy CEO of Irish Water Safety (IWS ). “In about a month’s time, half a million primary school children will start their Easter holidays but many will lack an awareness of how to stay safe when playing near aquatic environments.”
“We are only scratching the surface in terms of getting buy-in from primary schools at the moment,” he pointed out. “There are over 3,000 primary schools in the country yet only about 400 schools run the programme each year. The certificates and resources are free yet only about 40,000 certificates issue nationally to a potential target audience of 500,000. “What we need is a cultural shift to a safety consciousness around aquatic environments.” he said. “We have seen it around road safety – now what we really need is a focus on the education and promotion of IWS safety programmes, developed by IWS since its establishment in 1945.”
MR Sweeney said that reaching people at the prevention stage “leads to fewer rescues which in turn leads to fewer casualties needing treatment”. IWS prevention programmes are a win-win in terms of placing less demand on the associated rescue and health services.”
“The range of aquatic environments in Ireland exposes children and adults to such a wide range of risks that it really needs a cultural and attitudinal change in terms of addressing the 140 tragic drownings every year. Logging onto www.iws.ie is the first step to future-proofing your safety around water.”
