Kidsafe Victoria joined the Minister for Police and Emergency Services, the Hon Kim Wells, on Tuesday May 20th to launch the Play it Safe by the Water Mother Duck campaign. The initiative will see 30,000 duck families branded with water safety messages distributed to parents at their child’s 12 month Maternal and Child Health visit.
Minister Wells was joined by Channel 9 reporter Alicia Loxley and her 6 month old son Archie, Erica Edmands (Kidsafe Victoria President) and Helen Cunningham (Maternal and Child Health Coordinator at Glen Eira City Council) to launch the campaign.
Kidsafe Victoria’s new online Home Water Safety Audit, designed to highlight the hidden dangers which can pose a drowning threat around the home, was also officially launched on the day.
The new resource assists parents and carers to identify water safety hazards around their homes in as little as a few minutes. Upon registering and completing a series of questions about the home environment, the user is provided with a series of tailored ‘action items’ to conduct in order to improve water safety around their home.
For more information and to access the Home Water Safety Audit, please visit http://www.kidsafevic.com.au/water-safety/water-safety-audit
Water safety facts:
- 31 Australian children aged 0-4 years drowned in 2012/13, including 3 Victorian children.
- For every drowning death involving a child aged 0-4 in Victoria there are a further 10 non-fatal incidents, many which result in a child receiving permanent brain damage.
- 20 seconds is all it takes for a toddler to drown.
