20/07/2023

2023 marked the tenth consecutive year that RLSS UK’s Drowning Prevention Week took place and over the years the campaign has grown and reached more people, with 2023 being no different. This year RLSS UK were able to educate an estimated 1.85m+ children in water safety, 51% more than in 2022.

Lee Heard, Charity Director at RLSS UK, said “Sadly in May this year we saw a number of young people lose their lives to accidental drowning after we experienced a spell of warmer weather and this is something that unfortunately continued into June. These tragic events highlight why Drowning Prevention Week is so vital, and why your help and support before, during and after the campaign is so important.”

The charity created a brand-new animation for 2023 to share the messages of the Water Safety Code to ensure families had the correct knowledge to keep themselves and their children safe when in and around water. The animation was shared far and wide across social media and received over 93,000 views across the RLSS UK channels. Of those who viewed the animation on Instagram, a huge 95% were non followers, meaning the charity reached new audiences with its safety messaging, ensuring more people can enjoy water safely. 

89% of parents who watched the animation told RLSS UK that it told them something new and 92% agreed it made them think again about water safety.

Lee continued, “So many of you shared our messages across social media during the week and for this we are incredibly grateful as this helps immensely in reaching those we may not have otherwise.

“We are always trying to find new ways of reaching new audiences to spread our messages about water safety and this year through targeted adverts across social media we were able to reach 1.8m accounts. We were also able to, with the help of social media influencers, target new audiences generating over 10,000 shares and likes on the content created.”

The aim of Drowning Prevention Week is simple: to educate as many people as possible about water safety to prevent future drownings. The week is one of the largest summer water safety campaigns across the UK and Ireland.

As part of the campaign, RLSS UK made a number of water safety education materials free to download on their website and over 585,000 children in schools and over 1.3m children in leisure centres were taught water safety using the materials.

Lee said, “The support and enthusiasm we see from schools who download our resources to teach children in their schools is fantastic. We know that education is key and working with both primary and secondary schools allows us to reach as many young people as possible who otherwise would not receive this vital water safety education.

“We were also blown away with the response and support of the leisure sector who amplified their support this year. We saw so many incredible sessions taking place within leisure centres during Drowning Prevention Week and we would like to say a huge thank you to each and every one of you for making such a difference.”

The RLSS UK website received over 237,750 visits during the campaign week which was a third higher than in 2022 showing that the campaign generated interest with people wanting to find out more.

During the week RLSS UK also launched the first inaugural National Drowning Report at Westminster and in the first three weeks the report was viewed over 2,300 times on the RLSS UK website.

The report and activity during the week generated an increase in media coverage with 517 press articles and broadcasts, compared to 351 in 2022. There was also a 52% increase in media enquiries in June 2023 vs June 2022, demonstrating that drowning is an issue that more and more people are becoming aware of.

Lee concluded, “We know many of our volunteers were out and about speaking to members of the public during the week, as well as fundraising as part of the campaign. Without their help spreading messages about water safety our jobs would be extremely difficult. We are forever grateful to our clubs, branches, volunteers, and partners for consistently supporting Drowning Prevention Week each year.

“We want to say a huge thank you for once again supporting Drowning Prevention Week and for ensuring even more families and young people have the knowledge they need to stay safe in and around water.”

Remember, water safety education never stops and it’s time to get planning for 2024…

Save the date!

15-22 June 2024