As the last long weekend of the summer approaches, the BC Coroners Service is urging residents and visitors to stay safe when boating.
The need for all persons in small vessels to wear a properly fitted personal flotation device (PFD) is highlighted by two cases reported to the BC Coroners Service this week. Both persons were in small boats. In one case, the person fell overboard. In the other, the boat capsized. Neither person was wearing a PFD. Neither survived.
In at least one case, PFDs were aboard the boat but not being worn by the occupants. This reinforces the need for boaters to wear PFDs at all times while on the water, as research has shown that as many as 70% of boating deaths involve persons who have become separated from their vessels.
A study from Washington State showed that the chances of someone dying in a boating accident were 2.6 times higher if they were not wearing a PFD. Another study from Alaska showed that of all those who died in recreational boating accidents, only 17% were wearing a PFD.
Coroners’ statistics show that boating is the most common context in which drowning occurs in British Columbia. In 2015, 36% of all accidental drowning deaths (25 from a total of 70) involved someone who was boating.
The other key boating safety tip offered by the BC Coroners Service: Do not mix alcohol with any recreational water activities. A study specific to boating published in the journal, Injury Prevention, suggests that someone with a blood-alcohol level of 0.10 has about 10 times the risk of drowning while boating, and that even a small amount of alcohol can increase the risk.
The attached backgrounder offers other water safety tips both for boaters and for other recreational water users.
Backgrounders
- Always wear a properly fitted Personal Floatation Device (PFD) when engaged in boating or tubing activities. Children, non-swimmers and weak swimmers should wear a PFD when wading or playing in the water at a river, lake or ocean.
- Alcohol and water-related activities do not mix any better than alcohol and driving do. Alcohol impairs your co-ordination and judgment, and this substantially adds to the risk inherent in swimming or boating. Impairment by alcohol or drugs is also often a contributing factor in cases in which someone has accidentally fallen into water from shore. British Columbia statistics, like those from elsewhere in North America, show that between one-third and one-half of those who drown are impaired by alcohol or drugs at the time.
- Be aware of the water conditions where you are planning your activities. Check the weather forecast before heading out, and do a visual inspection of the area.
- If you are hosting visitors from another province or country, ensure that they are informed about the conditions that prevail in the lake or river you are visiting. Warn them about steep drop-offs, rapids and any other hazards.
- Always supervise children anywhere near water. Pre-school aged children can drown in only a few centimetres of water, and the drowning is often silent. Proper supervision for children of this age involves keeping them within arm’s length of a responsible adult.
- Even those walking along waterside trails or cliffs should take care. About one-sixth of those who drown in British Columbia fell into the water from shore.
- Never dive into unknown waters. Unexpectedly shallow water or hidden obstacles underwater can easily prove fatal. Diving from cliffs or from other great heights is an exceptionally high-risk activity.
- The report of the BC Coroners Service Child Death Review Panel on Child and Youth Drowning can be found at: http://www2.gov.bc.ca/gov/content/safety/public-safety/death-investigation/child-death-review/reports-publications
- Further information on drownings in British Columbia can be found on the BC Coroners website: http://www2.gov.bc.ca/assets/gov/public-safety-and-emergency-services/death-investigation/statistical/accidental-drowings.pdf
- For further information about water safety tips, visit the following sites:
https://news.gov.bc.ca/11889
Public Safety and Solicitor General
