On average, 96 people lose their lives to a water-related fatality each year in Scotland.
Scotland’s Drowning Prevention Strategy aims to reduce accidental drowning deaths by 50 per cent by 2026 and reduce risk among the highest-risk populations, groups and communities.
These aims are addressed by the collective efforts of the organisation Water Safety Scotland (WSS), and one of the major achievements of WSS is the concept of Partnership Approach to Water Safety (PAWS) groups.
PAWS is a multi-agency approach to raising water safety awareness at a local level. The strength of PAWS is that members have the required knowledge and experience to enable them to best understand water-based risks present in a certain locality.
Written in 2021 by James Sullivan of the Scottish Fire & Rescue Service, PAWS is recognised by subject matter experts as making meaningful contributions to drowning prevention and is WSS’s preferred method for formulating a local water safety group.
PAWS recently won the National Fire Chief’s Council (NFCC) Partnership Award and WSS would like to extend enormous gratitude to SFRS and everyone involved in PAWS who contribute to improving water safety and achieving the outcomes of Scotland’s Drowning Prevention Strategy.
A Water Safety Scotland spokesperson said: “WSS fully support the PAWS process and are very encouraged by the commitment shown by partners throughout Scotland to become involved and contribute to jointly improving water safety.
“Throughout 2021 and 2022 there has been a growing momentum and willingness from partners to work together and PAWS has played a vital part in coordinating these efforts and maintaining consistency and information exchange.
“With the forthcoming launch of the WSS Drowning & Incident Review (DIR), PAWS Groups will play a vital role in delivering comprehensive and consistent reviews of accidental drowning deaths in Scotland.”
WSS actively promotes and supports the establishment of PAWS groups in all 32 of
Scotland’s local authorities. If you wish to enquire about a PAWS group in your local area
please contact info@watersafetyscotland.org.uk where you will be directed you to your local
representative.