Inland Water Research Supported by

What Do We Presently Know? In the last 13 years (1989 –2001) 3,556 people have drowned on lakes, rivers, reservoirs, streams and canals in Great Britain. An average of 270 people drown a year 81.1% (2,877) male and 18.9% (673) female There is no national picture of inland water incident data

Demography Drowning Incidence Rates Males over 80 (1.32 per 100,000 p.a) Male (1.12 per 100,000 p.a) Female rate increases with age years (0.34 per 100,000 p.a)

Seasonal Trends Highest between May and August Accounting for 42% (1,491) of the total number of drownings

Annual Trends

Cause and Water Body 63.9% (2,268) occurred in Rivers 23% (815) in Lakes, Reservoirs and Lochs 12.6% (449) in Canals In 43.7% (1557) cause was unknown 15% (531) entered the water involuntary 8.6% (309) swimming 6.4% (230) in a vehicle 5.5% (199) boating 3.1% (113) fishing

Age Groups of Concern 15 – 29 Age Group –93.3% (854) Males –35.4% (302) ‘Got into difficulties’ –12.4% (115) were drunk –11.4% (97) were in a vehicle that entered the water –27.9% (239) of these drownings occurred in May and June –Females 25% (15) in a vehicle that entered the water 85 and Over Age Group –66.1% (39) Male, 33.8% (20) Female –22% (13) went missing from home –8.5% (5) had a plausible medical condition –6.8% (4) suffered from mental illness –33.8% (20) of these drownings occurred in April

Average Drowning per 100 Kilometres per River / Canal 0.65 drownings per 100 KM of Canal per year 0.51 drownings per 100 KM of Rivers per year

Geography Drownings by County Highest frequency are Urban Conurbations –London –Greater Manchester –West Midlands –Glasgow Highest Rural County –Hereford and Worcester

Correlations Significant correlations between regions with more linear features and the number of drownings No significant relationship between the area of enclosed features in a region and the number of drownings

Inland Drowning Summary Males - most aged between Male rate of drowning four times that of females the same age Seasonal trend coincides with warmer months and holiday periods Canals appear to have a marginally higher incidence of drownings than rivers Requirement for formal data collection process that is objective rather than subjective

What We Need to Know - Incident Data INland Waters Related EMergency Database INREM Aim –To provide a central point from where information, in a standard format, relating to incidents at inland water sites that can be obtained by the participating organisations / agencies

Feasibility Study Undertaken August ‘01 – August ’02 Focused on 3 main areas Cumbria Thames Valley Strathclyde and Lothian and Borders Regions Covering approximately 1/5 of the Emergency Services, Operators, Owners, Voluntary Services, Government Agencies and National Governing Bodies

Feasibility Study Findings The data is available, however there is some clarification required; Reporting systems vary Differing data storage systems Data quality Definitions and Codings Level of data collection Internal and external communications between organisations Grey area of responsibility for co-ordination between Police and MCA (tidal and non tidal boundaries)

Case Study Cumbria

INREM’s Future Development Phase 1: Initial Research All ready completed and reported to the NWSC Phase 2: Detailed Research / Scoping and Feasibility of establishing an INREM database 2002 / 2003 Phase 3: Establishment of INREM database Late 2003 / 2004

Conclusions Inland drowning data is currently fragmented and inadequate. There is an identifiable need to create a picture of the of inland water incidents –Improve analysis of causation and trends –Identify problem areas –Improve targeting and promotion of water safety initiatives INREM needs your help!