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 ROYAL LIFE SAVING SOCIETY – AUSTRALIA
For the past 115 years, Royal Life Saving has worked to harness the strengths of the communities we work with to reduce drowning and turn everyday people into everyday community lifesavers.
As a dynamic, charitable organisation, our tangible areas of activity include:
- Programs and Education
- Training Courses
- Research and Health Promotion
- Aquatic Risk Management
- Community Development
- Lifesaving Sport
- Advocacy
- International Partnerships.
THE SOCIETY’S MISSION
To prevent loss of life and injury in the community with an emphasis on the aquatic environment.
Our mission is achieved through education of individuals and dramatically increasing public awareness.
PROGRAMS AND EDUCATION
Royal Life Saving is Australia's largest provider of water safety education. Our programs are delivered in schools, pools and community centres daily. They are designed to build awareness of dangers in aquatic environments and to arm the community with lifesaving skills used in both prevention and rescue.
Our key education programs include:
- Keep Watch
- Swim and Survive
 Bronze Medallion - Grey Medallion.
TRAINING COURSES
Since 1894 Royal Life Saving has been training Australians to be lifesavers. While the principles have not changed, we are now training people to use these lifesaving skills in a wide range of workplaces and communities.
Our key training programs include:
- Lifeguarding
- Resuscitation (CPR)
- First Aid and Emergency Care
- Community Recreation
- Pool Operations.
These programs are delivered by a professional group of employees and volunteers. They provide customer focused programs that foster training and skills that save lives and prevent accidents. Training is the cornerstone of our vision for a safe community.
Every year we train pool lifeguards, pool managers, teachers, swim teachers and first aiders in workplaces across Australia, many of them young and just starting a career.
RESEARCH AND HEALTH PROMOTION
Royal Life Saving programs, products and services are underpinned by research and a commitment to continual improvement. They are constantly evaluated, improved and benchmarked against world’s best practice.
Our research capacity includes:
- Drowning and injury related research
- Program effectiveness and evaluation
- Management of internal research activities
- Partnering in research projects.
AQUATIC RISK MANAGEMENT
Ensuring the development of safety guidelines and risk management systems for all aquatic environments is essential in supporting a water safe community.
As partners with the Australian Aquatics and Recreation Industry, Royal Life Saving works to improve industry safety and risk management standards.
Our key risk management activities include:
- Guidelines for Safe Pool Operation
- Guidelines for Water Safety
- Aquatic Safety Services
- Australian Lifeguard Network.
COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT
Royal Life Saving actively implements a community development model that focuses on:
- Community engagement and communication
- Community participation and programming
- Training, employment and leadership development
- Sound project management and evaluation methodologies.
Community projects aim to build local opportunities for local people and target a range of health, social and economic issues. These issues have included:
- Populations at risk of drowning
- Use of aquatic facilities
- High levels of chronic disease
- Youth diversion
- Employment and Training pathways.
We are active in a range of communities including; Indigenous communities, rural and remote communities, culturally and linguistically diverse communities, refugee communities, second and third generation arrivals.
LIFESAVING SPORT
Royal Life Saving has an established sport participation pathway that provides regular opportunities for lifesavers from community level to elite.
The sport of pool lifesaving tests a lifesaver’s skills in rescue, accident prevention and emergency care.
A key activity is the ‘Simulated Emergency’ which pits an individual or team of lifesavers against a staged emergency. Variations of this activity are used in all Royal Life Saving Programs.
Pool Lifesaving provides an opportunity to learn or refresh your resuscitation and rescue skills.
ADVOCACY
Royal Life Saving has a well developed position on an extensive range of water safety issues facing the Australian Community. Our challenge is to ensure that these issues and our positions are understood by Government, Industry, the Corporate Sector and the Community. Royal Life Saving is working hard to eliminate drowning. We believe that through nationally coordinated and locally driven campaigns we can reduce these statistics.
Royal Life Saving invites Members of Federal and State Parliament to become Community Keep Watch Ambassadors in their electorates. Ambassadors agree to act as a community contact point and distribution centre for information.
INTERNATIONAL PARTNERSHIPS
Royal Life Saving is a member of the International Life Saving Federation, a network of lifesaving agencies from across the world who share our commitment to drowning prevention.
Increasingly our skills and expertise are being utilised to assist the international communities in most need. Drowning rates in the Asia-Pacific region are frighteningly high and largely unnoticed.
Through our international partners communities in Vietnam, Bangladesh, Thailand, Philippines, China, India and Fiji benefit from our direct assistance. Our lifesaving activities include:
- Supporting emerging lifesaving agencies
- Training and development
- Water safety consultancy
- Provision of resources and funding.
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