Coastal Auditing
We take a risk management and evidence based approach to coastal safety to ensure appropriate public education programs, mitigation strategies and lifesaving services are in place to address coastal safety issues.
This is extended into known drowning blackspots in order to achieve the Australian Water Safety Strategy goal reducing coastal drowning deaths.
Coastal Water Safety Agenda Strategies
- Evaluate the issue of coastal safety in its entirety, including assessment of non-fatal drownings and critical incidents to better inform targeted interventions.
- Implement coastal safety awareness campaigns and products to address root causes of drowning that are targeted towards high-risk populations.
- Increase open water survival, rescue and resuscitation skills that are critical enablers to safe participation in recreational activities.
- Identify ‘blackspot’ locations with high drowning rates and implement and evaluate evidence-based drowning prevention programs to mitigate known risk factors.
- Enhance surveillance and effective emergency response to critical incidents by improving technology, equipment, procedures and skills of personnel.
- Assess the impact and effectiveness of coastal drowning prevention initiatives.
Within this report recommendations are based on an onsite audit of the area, current standards, and best practices regarding risk management, signage and lifesaving service levels at areas identified in the scope.
Implementation of the risk management and signage recommendations details within this report will assist Land Managers to meet their duty of care obligations to the public and inform users of the major dangers associated with the individual locations. Where necessary, recommendations have also been made regarding existing signage and maintained and non-maintained beach accesses.
Surf Life Saving Australia and the individual state associations, including Surf Life Saving Queensland, have taken a proactive approach to reducing risk, by working closely with a variety of risk management bodies and State and Local Government authorities to develop a standardised signage and risk management system for all aquatic environments, the implementation of which is helping to promote safer usage of an aquatic environment and area.