A six year campaign following a tragic multiple drowning at Gunnamatta Beach in Victoria (Australia) in 1998 has led to the release of a national guide, which will make Australiaâ„¢s waterways safer through the standardisation of safety signage.
The Aquatic and Recreational Signage Style Guide, jointly released by the Royal Life Saving Society Australia (RLSSA) and Surf Life Saving Australia (SLSA), provides the most current water safety signage information and a framework for consistent delivery across the country.
A six year campaign following a tragic multiple drowning at Gunnamatta Beach in Victoria (Australia) in 1998 has led to the release of a national guide, which will make Australia’s waterways safer through the standardisation of safety signage.
The Aquatic and Recreational Signage Style Guide, jointly released by the Royal Life Saving Society Australia (RLSSA) and Surf Life Saving Australia (SLSA), provides the most current water safety signage information and a framework for consistent delivery across the country.
It has been developed following an incident on 8 January 1998 in which four children drowned while swimming at an unpatrolled beach, in the mistaken belief that lifesavers and lifeguards were on duty at the time.
Derek Wilson, the father of Molly and Ben and the uncle of Catherine and Belinda, who all drowned on that day after being caught in a fierce rip, says that lack of signage was a contributing factor in this tragedy.
In a country where swimming and surfing is such an important part of our lifestyle, there is simply no excuse for inadequate water safety signage, he said. We all should be able to visit a beach, pool or other swimming spot anywhere in Australia and be able to tell what the beach or water conditions
are, based on standard signage.
SLSA’s National Lifesaving Services Manager, Peter Agnew, says there is a desperate need to standardise signage around the country and to eliminate the current hit and miss approach. The Aquatic and Recreational Signage Style Guide has been developed through a series of trials and discussions with a broad range of interested parties, with the goal of helping to reduce the rates of injury and death in the water, he said.
The RLSSA’s National Operations Manager, Justin Scarr, says the style guide provides best-practice design information for land managers and local government authorities to review and implement their own signage schemes. “The benefit to land managers and local councils will be in avoiding or limiting
litigation and also providing stakeholders and the general public with a safer environment in and around waterways and pools, Mr Scarr said.
The guide was first published in Victoria, where extensive trials in a variety of waterways have been completed over the past three years, leading to the consistent display of water safety signage along the Victorian coast.