Keep Watch
Keep Watch is a public education program of the Society aimed at preventing drowning deaths of children under 5 years of age in all aquatic locations.
For more than 25 years Keep Watch has been educating Australian parents and carers on how to keep their children safe when in, on or around the water.
Drowning is one of the leading causes of death in children 0-4 years of age. Between 2002 and 2019, 507 children under the age of five drowned in Australian waterways. 78% of these deaths were the result of accidental falls into water and over half occurred in home swimming pools.
Keep Watch identified Four Key Actions to maximise child safety around water
Supervise
Actively supervise children around water. Eyes on. Hands on. Focus all of your attention on your children all of the time, when they are in, on or around the water.
Restrict
Restrict children’s access to water. Place a barrier between your child and water. If you can’t create a child safe play area with no water in it.
Teach
Teach children water safety skills. Make sure your child grows up water aware, water familiar and water confident.
Respond
Learn how to respond in case of an emergency. Many children are alive today because their parents knew how to perform CPR and respond quickly.