Tag Archive for: water safety month

Water Safety Month Main Blog image

Looking forward to upcoming vacations, time off, or fun in the sun? Don’t forget that this time of year is especially important to help raise awareness about the importance of water safety and drowning prevention! 

Drowning can happen quickly and when your guard is down, so whether you’re planning on going to the beach, the pool, or will be enjoying other water activities, it’s crucial to understand the risks and take the necessary precautions to keep you and your loved ones safe. 

What is Water Safety Month?

National Water Safety Month is an annual awareness campaign coordinated by the Pool & Hot Tub Alliance with support from the American Red Cross, National Drowning Prevention Alliance, National Recreation and Park Association, and World Waterpark Association.

Swim activity increases during the month of May, with many home and community pools now in regular use, camps welcoming new recruits, and beaches flooded with tourists and locals alike. 

Knowing this, the National Recreation and Park Association, along with the  World Waterpark Association (WWA), determined that more needed to be done in order to raise awareness about water safety.

What began as an annual week of water safety awareness flourished into a now month-long initiative aimed at reducing the amount of drowning tragedies across the globe. 

Swimming group with goggles for water safety month

Why Is Water Safety Month Important?

Drowning is one of the leading causes of accidental death worldwide. It happens quickly and silently and is never what you think. Even non-fatal accidents can have devastating long-term effects. 

According to the CDC (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention), every year in the United States alone, there are an estimated 4,000 fatal accidental drownings (about 11 drowning deaths per day) and 8,000 non-fatal drownings (about 22 non-fatal drownings per day).

Our goal in reducing the number of drownings every year requires comprehensive education about water safety and drowning prevention shared by everyone. By partnering with other organizations, we have the opportunity to spread the message of drowning prevention on a much larger scale. Drowning can happen to anyone, and it takes awareness and support from all of us to prevent a tragedy. 

Diverse kids swimming for water safety month

5 Ways You Can Practice Water Safety This May

This month is dedicated to educating families and individuals on how to stay safe in and around water. There are so many ways to advocate for water safety, so we’ve narrowed it down! 

Here are 5 ways to celebrate water safety in your community:

  1. Encourage others to be Water Safety Champions!
    • Water Safety Champions are people dedicated to finding solutions and advocating for safe play and necessary precautions in and around water. By signing up, you can access exclusive free downloads, social content, printables, and other free resources in your Water Safety Champion toolkit.
  1. Educate your friends and family about water safety and drowning:
    • Learn water safety and drowning misnomers: Terms such as ‘dry,’ ‘wet,’ ‘near,’ ‘silent,’ and ‘secondary’ drowning are all misnomers that are commonly used in the media and should not be used when speaking of drowning incidents.
    • Know what drowning looks like: The body is vertical, with the head instinctively tilted back as the victim tries to keep the airways clear of water. Victims typically face shore in open waters like lakes, rivers, or beaches. There are signs of movement but no signs of progress in the water. Drowning is also silent, with the victim not able to call out for help. 70% of toddler drownings happen during non-swim times. 
  1. Learn and Practice the 5 Layers of Protection:
    • Barriers & Alarms
    • Supervision
    • Water Competency
    • Life Jackets
    • Emergency Preparation
  1. Use and share NDPAs resources:
    • Use our free water safety resources, like books, coloring pages, flashcards, pool signs, and blogs to help keep water safety at the top of your family’s mind this summer. 
  1. Sign the “End The Misinformation” letter:
    • Floatation devices can be a tricky subject, and the language used to market and advertise flotation devices is misleading and can cost a life. Read and sign the “End the Misinformation” letter to help stop the spread of misinformation regarding children’s flotation devices.

While these are just a few ways for you and your community to get involved with education and advocacy for water safety month, there are still so many more, and we’ve made it even easier with our toolkit! 

Water Safety Season Toolkit

Wondering how to encourage Water Safety awareness in your organization or community?

We’ve created the Water Safety Season Toolkit to make it easy for you to spread the word about water safety and drowning prevention!

Our Water Safety Season Toolkit is the ultimate resource for getting the word out about water safety and drowning prevention, especially during the busiest recreational water activity months of the year.

This free toolkit includes a variety of resources that individuals, businesses, and coalitions can easily use to increase awareness of water safety and share the 5 Layers of Protection with ease. 

The toolkit Includes the following resources: 

  • Full summer social media campaign complete with graphics, animations, and videos with sample copy, hashtag strategies, and posting dates. 
  • Social frames that can be used on Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn.
  • A digital asset library that includes posters, infographics, checklists, and our Water Watcher Card. 
  • Sample Blogs ready to post to your site and other digital platforms that cover basic and simple water safety information.
  • NDPA’s Press and Media Guide is designed to provide you with tips and tricks for working with your local media and critical water safety information that can be shared with the media and the general public.
  • A sample government proclamation to help your community officially recognize water safety month and celebrate it in your communities.
  • An invitation to all users to join the NDPA Water Warrior Facebook Group–a private Facebook group for water safety advocates and professionals to connect, share, collaborate, and learn. The group currently has close to 1,600 members. 

You can access our toolkit at https://ndpa.org/toolkit/.

With the right education and training, we are steps closer to keeping our communities and families safe. Every step in the direction of advocating water safety is a step towards saving countless lives. This month, take some time to sit with your family and friends and empower them to take action in keeping everyone, especially your little ones, safe this summer and all year long! 

Be sure to follow the NDPA on our social media channels to follow along with our celebrations for National Water Safety Month @drownalliance.

NDPA Joins National Water Safety Month

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

(OVERLAND PARK, KS) – As families converge on aquatic centers, pools, splash pads, waterparks, and open bodies of water for recreational water activities this Memorial Day weekend, it is vital to ensure safety is a priority for all people. The National Water Safety Month campaign supporters offer six important tips and reminders for parents and caregivers about safer water practices.

As you enjoy time in and around water this summer, keep these six water safety tips in mind:

  1. Capable & Constant Supervision – Actively supervise children and non-swimmers around the water, even when lifeguards are present. Don’t just drop kids off. Avoid distracting activities such as checking email or social media. Drowning is quick and silent.
  2. Water Competency – No matter your age, learning to swim and survive in the water is one of the best ways to be safer in and around the water.
  3. Prevent Unsupervised Access To Water –Barriers and alarms help prevent access to water during non-swim times. Almost 70% of toddler drownings occur during non-swim times. Four sided fencing with a self-closing self-latching gate helps prevent unplanned access.
  4. Swim With A Buddy – Do not allow anyone to swim alone. Even at a public pool or a lifeguarded beach, use the buddy system.
  5. Wear A Life Jacket – Adults and kids should always wear a properly-fitted U.S. Coast Guard-approved life jacket while boating. Non-swimmers and inexperienced swimmers should also always wear a life jacket when in and around the water. Inflatable toys can be fun but are not a substitute for U.S. Coast Guard-approved life jackets.
  6. Be Prepared For Emergencies – Learn how to prevent and respond to emergencies by learning CPR.

About National Water Safety Month

National Water Safety Month is a joint effort of the American Red Cross, the National Recreation and Park Association, Pool & Hot Tub Alliance and the World Waterpark Association. Joining the NWSM partnership in 2022 is the National Drowning Prevention Alliance, a non-profit organization dedicated to reducing the incidence of drowning and preventing tragedy around water.

These organizations honor National Water Safety Month in May, along with thousands of aquatics facilities and professionals, through educational programs, public service announcements, governmental proclamations, dealer and aquatics business promotions and the distribution of water-safety-themed materials, aimed primarily at the public and designed to help prevent drowning and water-related illness and injuries. 

Detailed information and free resources in support of National Water Safety Month, for both consumers and businesses, can be found at www.nationalwatersafetymonth.org. Connect with National Water Safety Month on Facebook (@watersafetymonth).

MEDIA CONTACTS:

Aleatha Ezra
Director of Park Member Development
World Waterpark Association
aezra@waterparks.org

Cort Jones
Communications Manager
National Recreation and Park Association
cjones@nrpa.org

Don Lauritzen
Communications Officer
American Red Cross
media@redcross.org  

Laura Metro
Marketing & Communication Director
National Drowning Prevention Alliance
Laura.metro@ndpa.org

Jessica Howard
Vice President, Marketing
Pool & Hot Tub Alliance
jhoward@phta.org

water safety free resources

The fact that swimming schools have closed until further notice is no reason to bring your children’s water safety education to a halt. If you are like most parents that are now homeschooling their kids, take the opportunity to add water safety and drowning prevention to your daily activities with these fun, free and educational resources.

Make a splash in your family’s routine! 

Goldfish Swim School offers an array of screen-free activities, like coloring sheets, crossword puzzles, games and more! New activities are added periodically so be sure to check their site every few days.

Goldfish Swimschool Printables
Goldfish Swim School Activities

The school also offers some great tips on ways your kids can keep honing their swimming skills even though pools are closed. Check them out here.

Get The Party Started!

CPR Party™ offers fun, age appropriate and entertaining printable resources on their site which were designed to help teach your kids first aid and equip them with the life saving skill of CPR. You can add them to your homeschooling schedule or even host your own CPR Party™ at home with the entire family!

Your kids can now start learning CPR at home!

You can find more CPR Party™ resources here.

RNLI Water Safety Wednesdays

The RNLI, in their quest for ways to engage, educate and entertain kids at home about water safety, are hosting live, interactive video sessions for primary school age children on their Facebook Page. Sessions are streamed on Wednesdays at 10:15am.

Water Safety Wednesdays hosted by the RNLI.

Water Safety With Josh & Friends

The Josh the Otter Program also offers free resources and activities that kids can do at home to further their water safety education and instill in them Josh’s key message: To stay away from water unless accompanied by an adult.

Begin their easy to follow Water Safety 101 course by reading Josh The Baby Otter then take the easy Water Safety Quiz and wrap up the lesson with fun coloring pages, word finds and even make a Josh The Otter puppet!

Josh The Otter Coloring Pages

Captain Paxton Coloring Book

Created by WS365, the North Richland Hills Water Safety Program, this lively coloring book teaches your kids some very important water safety lessons like never swim without an adult, stay away from drains and learn to swim.

Color and learn with Captain Paxton

Pool Safely Kids Activity Corner

You can find Pool Safely‘s educational videos and activities that help children enjoy learning about pool safety and family fun in the water on their website.

Pool Safely Coloring Sheet

Virtual Activities For The Entire Family

Colin’s Hope is bringing fun and interactive learning experiences to the entire family! Gather children of all ages (even teens!) and learn about water safety in new ways.

Colin’s Hope Family Activities

Drowning won’t stop, so neither will we and neither should you! Your support will allow us to continue educating and advocating water safety to prevent child drownings.