Verbal report.
Minutes:
Area Manager – Head Prevention and Protection, Matt Hamer provided members with a presentation regarding the 2022 Water Safety Campaign ‘Be Water Aware’. He advised Members that the recent tragic incident in Solihull where children fell through ice on open water and lost their lives, highlighted that water safety was not limited to the summer months. Tony Hewitt, Prevention Support Manager was to be Chair of proposed Lancashire Water Safety Partnership and was actively targeting water safety around the seasonal changes. The Service worked with partners and schools to raise awareness of the risks, currently around ice.
The Water Safety Campaign:-
· was a campaign to raise awareness of the risks of water;
· ran from April to September with the ability to scale up due to the weather conditions.
· was data driven following the principles of Equality Impact Assessment;
· adapted within all areas towards their risk;
· was multi-agency.
Tony Hewitt explained that the Service had identified a large increase in the number of people accessing open water through water related hobbies, however, those people were not necessarily aware of the associated risks. Community Fire Safety (CFS) Team Leaders were involved in a project around identifying nationalities in Lancashire translating safety resources into different languages.
Tony Hewitt reported that the crews carried out work, centered around World Drowning Prevention Day, to identify sites most at risk in order to improve the safety at those sites using a multi-agency approach. The reasons the Service ran a Water Safety Campaign included that, in 2020, there were 254 accidental drownings in the UK. Almost half of those people did not intend to enter the water, and 78% of accidental drownings were male. To tackle this, those involve in open water-based activities would be targeted
Objectives for the 2022 campaign included;
· to increase the number of people, spanning a range of ages, that received water safety education both formally and informally;
· to reduce the number of drowning incidents;
· to promote local and national drowning prevention projects, initiatives, and messages;
· to reduce the overall number of incidents and associated risks to LFRS staff;
· to increase the overall campaign engagement from 16% in 2021 to 18% in 2022.
Tony Hewitt advised that 2022 was the first year that the Service had been able to go into schools following lockdown to deliver messages to children face to face, around water safety and risks. The Service aimed to reduce the number of drowning incidents, as in 2022 there had been 4 fatalities in open water in Lancashire.
The Service delivered;
· NFCC Drowning Prevention Week (25 April – 01 May 2022);
· Royal Life Saving Society Drowning Prevention Week (15 – 25 June 2022);
· for the first time since its introduction last year, LFRS actively engaged in World Health Organisation’s initiative World Drowning Prevention Day (25 July 2022), aimed at raising water safety awareness around the world;
· approx. 3800 learners joined the virtual session organised and run by the Prevention Support Team;
· approx. 7000 learners received in-school water safety input;
· delivered sessions to non-school settings such as Blackburn Youth Zone, NCS group, Fire Cadets, Prince’s Trust Team and voluntary youth groups (e.g. Beavers);
· targeted engagement at known hotspots.
Tony Hewitt informed Members that, as part of the NFCC Drowning Prevention Week, a number of messages were delivered over social media through Corporate Communications and face to face delivery was carried out in a number of schools. During World Drowning Prevention Day, national landmarks were lit up blue to raise awareness of drowning prevention. In Lancashire, landmarks included were Blackpool Tower, Ormskirk Clock Tower, and venues in West Lancashire.
One of the next steps was to establish the Lancashire Water Safety Partnership and agree Terms of Reference. Andy Peacock, Manager for the HM Coast Guard for the North West had been acknowledged as the Vice-Chair of the Partnership and brought with him valuable experience. The partnership would allow the Service to gain better data to target campaign activity and carry out more joined up working. The launch date for the Lancashire Water Safety Partnership was 1st April 2023 but prior to that, the Service would work with partners and landowners to identify suitable locations for Water Safety Boards, safety equipment and ensure perimeters were secure. Another approach would be to check local schools’ access to swimming lessons as many facilities were closing due to the cost of living crisis which potentially increased the risks around water.
Also being considered was a regional water safety partnership which had been agreed with most of the neighbouring Fire and Rescue Services and would commence in the new year. Services could share best practice and ensure consistency across regions.
In response to a query from Councillor Smith regarding whether swimming lessons were compulsory in schools, Tony Hewitt believed that schools made the decision which would be dependent on individual budgets.
County Councillor Yates stated that Councillors should press local authorities to provide more funding for swimming lessons. Tony Hewitt agreed that it was fundamental for children to learn to swim as it was a life saving skill which, Mark Winder added, would be lost if not funded and it was important to have partners who could support the message.
County Councillor Beavers believed that it was still mandatory for schools run by Lancashire County Council to provide swimming lessons, however, there were those schools such as academies that could choose. She added that her local authority provided free swimming for all children of school age, every weekend and school holiday.
County Councillor Kay requested that Councillors be sent posters and materials so they could promote messages to the public. She also suggested that ‘what to do’ guidelines be put up near open water.
County Councillor Yates left the meeting.
RESOLVED: - That the content of the presentation be noted.