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Drowning Prevention Week (Day 5) - What To Do If Things Go Wrong – Self-Rescue & Calling for Help

This week, 14^th June – 21^st June 2025, is Drowning Prevention Week.

This is a national campaign, led by the Royal Life Saving Society UK (RLSS UK), which aims to raise awareness and reduce preventable deaths by drowning.

As summer approaches, it’s vital to help our communities, especially children, young people and their families, stay safe around water, both at home and outdoors.

Throughout Drowning Prevention Week, Cumberland and Westmorland & Furness Safeguarding Children Partnerships are sharing a range of drowning prevention resources, and top tips, to help raise awareness. We would suggest that these are cascaded within your teams.

Today, on the final day of Drowning Prevention Week, we are focusing on What To Do If Things Go Wrong – Self-Rescue & Calling for Help

As Drowning Prevention Week comes to a close, we are focusing on how to respond if something goes wrong, whether it’s you, your child, or someone else in trouble in the water.   In recent years, 136 people have drowned in Cumbria, with 20 of those being children, that’s 15% of all local drownings. Many of these tragedies happened just metres from safety, in everyday locations.   Even with all the right precautions, emergencies can happen in seconds. That’s why it’s vital for children, young people and their families to understand the basics of self-rescue, safe helping and who to call in a crisis.

Float to Live – A Life-Saving Technique Everyone Should Know

If you or a child falls unexpectedly into water, panic is natural, but it’s also dangerous. The Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI) teaches a simple, life-saving method; Float to Live.   This technique has helped save the lives of more than 50 people in all sorts of situations. From children in rip currents to runners falling into canals and people being swept out by waves.   To “Float to Live”, you should: Fight the instinct to thrash. Tilt your head back to keep your mouth above water. Spread your arms and legs. Float until you can control your breathing. Signal for help or plan your next move. Watch the RNLI’s video to find out more: Float to Live

Call, Tell, Throw – Help Without Putting Yourself at Risk

If you, or the children, young people or families you work with, see someone else in danger in water, they should:   CALL 999 immediately. Ask for the Coastguard at sea or on the coast. Ask for Fire and Rescue for rivers, lakes or canals. TELL them to stay calm, float and keep still. THROW something that floats - a lifebuoy, ball, rope, or even a sealed empty bottle. Never jump in yourself. You could also get into trouble. These three steps can make the difference between life and death, and they are really easy steps for children and young people to learn.

Key Safety Reminders

• Talk about Float to Live with the children, young people and families you work with.
• Teach children and young people to call for help, not go in after someone.
• Help children and young people practice who to call and what to say in an emergency.
• Keep rescue aids visible and accessible near any private water areas.

By giving children and families these vital tools, we can help them stay safer, and act smarter, when every second counts.

Explore, Learn & Share

We want to ensure that children and young people are equipped with the knowledge they need to know what to do if something goes wrong around water.

We would suggest that you share the resources within this 5 Minute Briefing, and below, with the children, young people and families that you work with:

• RNLI’s Float to Live Advice - Float to Live
• RNLI’s Call, Tell, Throw Advice - Call, Tell, Throw
• National Fire Chiefs Council’s Be Water Aware Advice – Be Water Aware

We hope that you have found the advice and resources provided during Drowning Prevention Week useful, to ensure that children and young people in our area are kept as safe as possible around water.