In the past 4 years 125 children have drowned with 51 incidents occurring at home - primarily during bath time and involving children under 5. The report emphasises the importance of adult supervision, as 86% of the cases involved unsupervised children.

The key messages of the RLSS campaign is as follows: 

1) Always keep young children within arm’s reach in the bath. Always keep children under constant adult supervision in the bath. If you need to leave the bathroom, take the child with you. In a recent survey the RLSS found that 59% of parents of children under five admitted to leaving the child unattended in the bath at least once in the past month – and for most, this was down to them forgetting something, such as a towel.

2) Never leave your child under the supervision of child siblings in the bath. If you need to leave the bathroom, take the child with you. The RLSS found that 2 in 5 parents (41%) think it's safe to leave a baby in the bath with an older sibling, as long as it's not for too long.

3) Drowning can happen quickly and silently – in a matter of minutes. You won’t hear that something is wrong. Parents often don’t realise that drowning happens quickly and silently. In the RLSS survey, 55% of parents believe they would hear thrashing and a lot of noise if their child was struggling in the bath.

Bath time can be quite challenging to make it an easier and safer experience please find the poster attached below.