Ten people died by drowning in New Zealand waters this official Christmas holiday period (4pm Christmas Eve until 6am this morning) – the same as last year’s grim holiday toll and three more deaths than the five-year average of seven. Water Safet...
Water Safety New Zealand’s 2016/17 Funding Programme is now open. We are inviting funding applications from suitably qualified organisations to deliver drowning prevention interventions that make a real difference to the drowning toll. We will inve...
Forty-eight people died by drowning in New Zealand waters in the first six months of 2016 – 17 lower than the same time last year (at 65). But despite the decrease in overall number, almost four out of five (around 80%) of these deaths are consider...
Skills Get in and out of the water safely in any environment Perform this sequence with a buddy watching: check the depth of the water, check that the area is safe, jump into deep water, float on back for 1 minute to control breathing, return to ed...
Skills Get under water, open eyes and control breathing Pick up an object from under the water Dive from a horizontal position in the water and move underwater for a slow count to five Requirements Students should: Be able to show water familiarity...
Skills Float, then regain feet Control breathing while floating on back for at least 1 minute Scull headfirst and/or scull feet first for at least 3 minutes Tread water for at least 3 minutes in deep water Perform this sequence: in deep water, corr...
Skills Horizontal rotation (front to back and back to front) Horizontal to vertical rotation and vice versa (front or back to upright and return) Vertical rotation (half rotation and full rotation) around the body’s vertical axis Requirements S...
Skills Float and signal for help with and without a flotation aid Do a reach rescue and a throw rescue with a buddy Perform this sequence: correctly fit a lifejacket, do a step entry into deep water, float in the H.E.L.P. position, then with a coup...
Skills Move 15m non-stop, using any form of propulsion Move through the water in environments of all kinds (currents, waves, depth – in situ or simulated) Move 50m and/or 3 minutes non-stop, confidently and competently – using any form of propuls...
To check whether a student is competent in water safety, ask them to choose two sets of five of the 21 skills to perform in sequence. Each set must include at least one of the three ‘starred’ skills They should be able to perform the five skills...