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Draft national plan formulated to prevent deaths from drowning
A draft national plan for prevention of drowning that aims to cut deaths by five percent every year has been formulated by the Office of the Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) with contributions from other Government partners.
The proposals in the national plan include introducing – with the help of the Education Ministry – basic swimming and life saving skills as an extracurricular activity in the school curriculum, assigning to each national school a lifesaver trainer and eventually making it compulsory to have a lifeguard and lifesaving equipment at every swimming pool. A mobile phone application that allows anyone to check the safety of beaches and other water bodies around the country is also being planned after a risk profile is done of all these areas.
The plan will be presented to President Maithripala Sirisena who recently tasked the CDS with leading and coordinating Sri Lanka’s drowning prevention programme. The country is ranked 12th among 61 in most number of drowning deaths and occupies 10th position among middle-income nations.
According to police data, an average of six people died a day in 2016 (a total of 760) of drowning. In 2017, 678 people died and the number is already 413 up to June 30 this year. The majority of fatalities were men. The Western Province consistently leads in the statistics followed by the Southern and North Western Provinces. Among the draft national plan’s objectives are to prevent drowning deaths, to educate the public about water safety, start lifesaver and swimmer training, identify danger areas, set up lifesaver teams, gather and analyse data for targeted action and to formulate a programme to promote the national economy through safe water activities.
Implementation will be through at least 18 organisations. They are the tri-forces and police; the Coast Conservation Department; Civil Defence Force; the Ministries of Education and Higher Education, Health, Tourism, Sports and Disaster Management; Sri Lanka Life Saving Association (SLLSA); Department of Registration of Persons; University of Peradeniya; Asia-Pacific Alliance for Disaster Management; and the Sri Lanka Aquatic Sports Union. The observers will be Victoria Lifesaving of Australia, the World Health Organisation and media. Each has been identified for specific tasks which will be distributed and coordinated via a 16-member steering committee that will comprise representatives of the relevant institutions. There will be an Operations Committee handling seven areas: training and water safety; public education; naming of safe areas; data gathering and analysis; tourism development; drafting of laws and regulations related to water safety; and media.
At a meeting this week, Chief of Defence Staff Admiral Ravi Wijegunaratne called for coaching of as many lifesavers as possible from the military, police, civil defence force and others. There will be an assessment shortly of ongoing training programmes and of how many lifesavers are presently available.
The national plan, which is subject to approval by the President and Cabinet, envisages the attiring of all lifesavers in the internationally recognised red and yellow uniforms; flagging of beach areas that are safe to swim in according to global practices; introduction of a programme at the airport to educate incoming tourists of safe swimming practices; to remove ‘Swim at Your Own Risk’ boards erected near hotel swimming pools and guarantee the safety of guests; and to take a headcount of all lifesavers in the country so that they can be assigned to areas where more drownings occur.
It also has a public education component which hopes to spread awareness about the importance of making a self-assessment of swimming skills and state of health before getting into the water; identifying safe areas; recognising and respecting signboards related to water safety; and wearing suitable clothing in water.