As hot weather draws more young people to our canals, your support is helping young people understand the dangers of open water. Together, we’re encouraging safer choices to prevent tragic accidents.
As you may have seen on the news this summer, far too many people still get into trouble in water on hot sunny days. Although the dangers are well known and understood by safety campaigners, the truth is, not enough young people are hearing the message of water safety.
Men make up 83% of drowning deaths, with many of those aged just 15 to 22. These tragic accidents aren’t just happening in rip tides or strong currents out at sea – the majority of accidental drownings in the UK take place in inland water. Many remain unaware of the dangers beneath the surface and even those who consider themselves strong swimmers don’t realise how their body will react to the shock of jumping into cold water.
That’s why, thanks to your support, we’ve launched a pioneering project to get more effective safety messages out to young people most at risk. A new approach was needed, as the Trust’s public safety campaigns and programme manager, Claire Gauci explains: "The main problem was that young people just weren’t listening to traditional water safety messages. The top-down, ‘just say no’ approach simply wasn’t cutting through. So the question was, what do teenagers want to hear?"
While it can look tempting on a hot day, jumping into a cold canal or river comes with many dangers.
Rather than assuming we knew all the answers, we asked young people themselves. Working with teenagers in Wigan, over several sessions we listened to what would genuinely make them stop and think, and what messages they would simply ignore.
As you might imagine, it came through loud and clear that adults telling them what to do was just not cutting it, and in fact sometimes being told ‘no’ made things worse.
"Young people told us not to preach at them," says Claire. "We needed to make it a discussion which includes them and focuses on friendships. Friends are so important to young people, so they are much more likely to listen to each other."
The result is our new campaign ‘Have You Got Their Back?’. Instead of telling young people not to take risks, it encourages them to look out for one another, start conversations and step in before someone makes a dangerous decision.
We’ve also created a PSHE (Personal, Social, Health and Economic) lesson pack that’s already being used in schools across the country, helping thousands of teenagers talk openly about peer pressure, risk and staying safe around water.
We’ve worked closely with teenagers to understand how to best communicate water safety messages.
You’re helping us reach more young people with life-saving messages, but education doesn’t start and end at school, we all have a part to play. Conversations at home matter too. Whether it’s with your children, grandchildren, nieces or nephews, just taking a few moments to have a conversation about the dangers of open water could make all the difference.
As summer heatwaves become more common, more young people will be tempted to have a quick dip. With your support and by involving them in the conversation, we’re helping ensure they hear the right message at the right time, because looking out for each other could save lives.
