Drowning Prevention Research Online Meeting - Thursday, 12 October 2023

The Drowning Prevention Research Online Meeting took place from 11-13 October 2023 in collaboration with the International Drowning Research Alliance (IDRA). The meeting provided the opportunity to those working in drowning prevention and treatment to present and listen to the most recent advances in the areas of: drowning prevention and education, climate change and drowning, and the medical & physiological aspects of drowning.
Drowning remains a global pandemic claiming the lives of at least 1000 people a day (2.5 million in 10 years), and leaving many more with life-long morbidity. Nearly two-thirds of those that die are under 30 years old, with a quarter of these being under 5 years old. This represents over 64 million years of life lost, over 10 years. The majority of drownings are from low-income countries and the drowning threat is set to get worse with climate change and rising sea levels: three quarter of a billion people are currently living below predicted high tide levels.
Time stamps:
00:00:00 - Dr Jenny Smith, University of Chichester, UK
Welcome and Introductions
00:01:17 - Thomas Wild, Leeds Trinity University, UK
“Floating point”: A new method to establish the motionless airway freeboard of humans in water to advise on drowning risk and self-rescue actions
00:13:22 - Adey Mayhew, Surf Life Saving GB, UK
SLSGB response to COVID 2020
00:25:31 - Dr Victoria Laxton, Transport Research Laboratory, UK
Transferring fatigue detection technology from buses to lifeguarding: Lessons learned from trials in the bus industry
00:38:06 - Nick Spence, National Ambulance Resilience Unit, UK
Evolution of a submersion decision making tool
00:55:13 - Professor Mike Tipton, Extreme Environments Laboratory, University of Portsmouth, UK
Death around the time of rescue: Is drowning involved?
01:07:02 - Stephen Waterman, Royal Life Saving Society Western Australia, Australia
River safety for First Nation's Australians
01:17:41 - Dr Shayne Baker, International Life Saving Federation, BelgiumA strategy to reduce drowning in flood disasters
01:33:21 - Benjamin Sharpe, University of Chichester, UK
Lifeguard drowning detection training
01:44:54 - Carlene McAvoy, The Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents, UK and James Sullivan, Scottish Fire and Rescue Service, UK
The Drowning and Incident Review (Scotland): Initial insights
The meeting was held over three days to ensure global participation and to maximise research dissemination and discussion.