International Student Water Safety Video

Mr. Mike Anderson¹

¹Surf Life Saving NSW, Sydney, Australia

International Student Water Safety Video.
This video series was launched in December 2020 and is a Study NSW Partner Project collaboration with the NSW Police Force, Surf Lifesaving NSW, Royal Lifesaving NSW and Northern Beaches Council. Created to share expert advice for Students on how to stay safe near water.
“Alone we can do little… together we can do so much”.
Surf Life Saving NSW partnered with NSW Police Force, Royal Life Saving NSW, and Northern Beaches Council to create a water safety video helping save international students from drowning in Australia.
International students, with limited experience of Australian water conditions, are at greatest risk of drowning and are overrepresented annually in drowning deaths.
Funded by Study NSW, the new water safety video features six students who share their experience of the water to help raise awareness and save lives. The students chosen were from nationalities representing the highest number of drownings, those at greatest risk of drowning, and from cultures that have little or no experience in water or access to water safety information prior to arrival.
All stakeholders play a pivotal role in ensuring students remain safe during their time in Australia and assist as emergency services when needed.
The video is captioned in English and subtitled in eight different languages. It encourages international students to enrol in swimming lessons and familiarise themselves with water safety when swimming in the ocean, rivers, pools, and rock fishing.
The participants’ unscripted stories deliver peer-to-peer messages that encourage fellow students to be aware of their own abilities, cultural practices, and existing knowledge to make safe and informed decisions around water.
This community engagement initiative has created a free resource designed for sharing through many channels with the aim of keeping students safe, reducing the number of preventable drownings, and saving lives.

Biography:
Mike Anderson has been working in Community Education as an Engagement Officer at Surf Life Saving NSW for 3 years. His primary role is reducing preventable drowning deaths through various programs and projects and sees education as a vital component to enable this. By focusing on communities and groups that have little or no access to water safety, his role is to help facilitate generational change and empower individuals with the knowledge to keep themselves, their families, and peers safe whilst recreating and enjoying themselves along Australia’s beautiful coastline. He has worked closely with Universities, state government, councils, and emergency services to deliver vital safety information to at-risk groups.