RES CPR 14 Educate the Public on Responding to Emerging Aquatic Environmental Hazards
Develop and implement public awareness campaigns and educational programs on how to respond to atypical and increasing environmental aquatic hazards. This includes, but is not limited to natural and manmade floodways, flooded roads, drainpipes, and fire hydrant clearing.
Spectrum level: Promoting Community Education
Evidence level: Low
Rationale:
A public awareness campaign and educational program on how to respond to atypical (i.e. unconventional) and increasing environmental aquatic hazards will help people understand best practices to avoid and mitigate entering hazardous waters. Unconventional aquatic emergencies are increasing as floods, weather and other events gain in frequency and severity in communities nationwide. Many reports show that incidents during these emergencies could have been avoided, and that rescue was limited by availability of responders.
Anticipated Impact:
After implementing this recommendation, you can expect to experience the following outcome:
- Community members educated in hazards associated with frequent but unconventional aquatic environments leads to an understanding of how and follow best practices to avoid and mitigate entering hazardous waters.
Evidence:
There is evidence that unique aquatic rescues occurring as a result of atypical environmental aquatic hazards are increasing. It could be advantageous to use non-fire department personnel to evaluate hazards and perform certain functions for which they would have particular experience, ability, or equipment. When it involves trench rescue, a specialized form of confined space rescue, it should only be conducted under the supervision and direction of a qualified trench rescue team.
Evidence shows that meteorological disaster-related injuries, like drowning, are more prevalent in the casualties of meteorological events (57.48%). Additionally, recent evidence shows that swimming is a viable option for self-rescue during accidental cold-water immersion. Early studies (1960s and 1970s) led to a general conclusion, "people are better off if they float still in life jackets or hang on to wreckage and do not swim about to try to keep warm". Recent evidence from the literature shows the initial factors identified as being responsible for swimming failure can be either easily overcome or are not the primary contributors to swimming failure. People can swim in cold water for a distance ranging between about 800 and 1500 meters before being incapacitated by the cold. Finally, good communication has been found to be critical in rescuing people from life-threatening dangers; poor communication put participants at unnecessary risk. Communication codes, carriers, and cultural contexts were all essential aspects.
Evidence Sources:
TRENCH RESCUE, Fire Department Town of Menasha - Standard Operating Guidelines https://www.foxcrossingwi.gov/download/SOG%20and%20Policy/Operational%20SOGs/35.01%20-%2035.08%20Trench%20Rescue.pdf
Woman rescued after her car drifts into ditch in Henderson Co https://www.14news.com/2019/11/30/nws-number-water-rescues-reported-around-henderson-co/
Retention Pond Rescue https://www.nctv17.com/news/retention-pond-rescue/
Socio-demographic Characteristics and Leading Causes of Death among the Casualties of Meteorological Events Compared with All-cause Deaths in Korea, 2000-2011 doi: 10.3961/jpmph.2013.46.5.261
Self-rescue swimming in cold water: the latest advice https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/17622298/
Communications In Adventure Tour Products: Health and Safety in Rafting and Kayaking https://doi.org/10.1016/j.annals.2009.10.011
High Risk Populations Addressed:
All populations can benefit from implementation of this recommendation.
Evaluation Metrics:
Indicators of long-term impact:
- Research has been conducted and presented on best practices in response to unique aquatic emergencies
- Fatal drownings due to unique and atypical aquatic incidents have decreased
- Unconventional rescues during aquatic emergencies have decreased in frequency
- The number of drowning incidents in flood waters has decreased
- The number of drowning incidents in vehicles has decreased
Indicators of intermediate impact:
- Recognition of hazardous situations and implementation of water-smart choices increases
Indicators of initial impact:
- Trainings on self-rescue techniques are available
- Number of attendees to in-person water safety training sessions increase
- Messages for assessment and self-rescues are available to support public awareness campaigns
Implementation:
Consider the following to ensure successful implementation:
- Provide messaging that is relevant to various demographics.
- Provide avoidance and self-rescue techniques taught on land and in water.
- Ensure rescue techniques can be easily implemented.
- Collect evidence and best practices for how to successfully provide prevention and avoidance messages to the public.
- Consider providing lay first responders specialty training for rescues in frequent but unconventional waters.
Challenges to Implementation:
When implementing this recommendation, you might encounter challenges related to the following factors:
- Access to specialized training may be limited
- People may not have basic water skills to execute rescue techniques
- There may be liability concerns with training
- Public safety prevention campaigns may be fragmented, underfunded, and not uniform.
- Behavior change may be difficult and validated methods of public awareness are not readily available.
Potential Facilitators:
The following factors might facilitate the implementation of this recommendation:
- Gaining the support of city officials for messaging and training.
- Ensure legal review of all materials to minimize negative backlash.
- Acquire sustainable funding sources to support training.
- Funding will also be needed to provide necessary equipment to low-resourced areas.
- Sharing the experiences of community members who have found value in newfound knowledge and performance skills.
GAP Recommendation:
- Conduct feasibility research on teaching self-rescue techniques to the community
- Conduct research on risks associated with adventure tourism as it relates to adverse circumstances and test communication theories