SWIMMING IS LIFE - REDUCING DROWNING RISK FOR CHILDREN

Sammanfattning: Drowning is the second global leading cause of unintentional injury death for children ages 1 to 14 years, and the fifth leading cause for people of all ages (excluding flood disasters and water transport incidents). Why is the risk of drowning so high? It is important to investigate existing situation: what are the reasons that create a danger, is there a main risk group, how the risk of drowning can be reduced or even prevented, what is already in use for drowning prevention and what is the level of its’ contribution, what role plays the ability to swim? Research methods such as interviews, questionaires, observations, documentary analysis and other let to explore: various risk factors, types of common activities and children’s behaviour in the water, functioning of the existing swimming and buoyancy equipment and safety aids, conditions of the water settings, parents’ opinions and observations and the swimming trainers’ experience. All findings lead to a discussion what can be useful and important to take into account in order to improve the existing situation related to the safety level of the children activities in the water Following the discussion, the design process, including ideas generation, experiments and several other methods, it created an advantage for product development.