Identifying risks for overseas-born beachgoers and suggesting future preventative strategies: a qualitative study based on interviews with 20 lifesavers from Australian tourist beaches

Abstract

Background: While Australia sees a high proportion of coastal drownings involving overseas-born beachgoers every year, it should not be forgotten that professional lifeguards and surf lifesavers carry out about 9000 rescues and 1800,000 preventative actions every year. Given these figures, lifeguards and surf lifesavers would be assumed to have ways of identifying overseas-born beachgoers who are not familiar with Australian beaches and to take special precautions in relation to them. Aim: This study aims to explore the ways by which surf lifesavers are able to identify overseas-born beachgoers who have no or little understanding of Australian beaches, and identify the surf lifesavers’ perceptions as to the effectiveness of currently available public beach safety signage, as well as educational messages communicated by the popular TV show, Bondi Rescue. Method: One-on-one in-depth interviews were carried out with 20 lifesavers from three popular Australian tourist beaches –Bondi and Tamarama beaches in Sydney, and Glenelg beach in Adelaide. The semi-structured interviews were conducted using a fixed list of questions, and a code analysis was conducted employing the program NVivo 12 (version 12.70).Results: Based on the interview data, surf lifesavers identified a number of characteristics that suggested a lack of familiarity with Australian beaches and differentiated overseas-born beachgoers from regular beachgoers, including wearing jeans near water, particular ways of approaching the water, and the use of inflatable toys. More than half of the lifesavers said that in general beachgoers were more likely to swim outside the flags, but some said that beachgoers stay between the flags because professional lifeguards and surf lifesavers enforce this regulation. Many lifesavers cast doubts on the effectiveness of public signage, and a majority singled out the popular TV show Bondi Rescue as a powerful tool for revealing the real dangers of Australian beaches. One interview, however, warned that Bondi Rescue might lead to them is understanding that “all” Australian beaches are patrolled and, therefore, “safe”.Conclusion: It is important to address safety issues such as the fact that wearing heavy clothing and using inflatable toys can cause problems on Australian beaches with dangerous waves and rip currents. Effective ways of delivering safety messages to the public, especially to overseas-born beachgoers, still need to be developed.