ºÚÁϳԹÏ

Drowning is the second or third

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most common cause of accidental death around

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the globe.

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We lose around about a thousand people

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a day. In the UK, it's a death about

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every 20 hours, a child a week.

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Nearly half of the deaths are people

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under the age of 15.

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That loss of a life, of

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a potential, of a contribution to society.

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That's the driver to try and help

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people survive the experience

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of going into cold water.

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The background to this project

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certainly started in '83 with my

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PhD, which was in human responses to cold

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water immersion and adaptation to cold.

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And pretty much everything we've done

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from there has made some contribution.

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We work with lots of external organisations.

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Over the years, the Royal National Lifeboat

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Institution have supported

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our research and have used our research a

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lot. We work with Surf Life Saving GB.

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We work with the Coast Guard.

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We work with the Fire and Rescue Service.

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They cover what we do when we work with all

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the groups -- the fantastic groups we work

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with -- is from lab to lifesaving.

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So we can produce the science, and

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we can interpret that science, and then they

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can take it and turn it into campaigns

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like Float to Live.

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You can probably trace everything that's

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happened subsequently to people just before

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they go into the water, people as they

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go into the water and people five minutes

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after they've been in the water.

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When they go into water, it's impossible for

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them to breath-hold.

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They take a gasp, which is two to three

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litres. Just with that first, [INHALE],

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you've crossed the lethal dose for drowning.

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Now, once the skin gets down to water

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temperature, which takes about a minute or

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two, then that response

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goes away. And so, if you look now five

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minutes into an immersion, you will see the

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responses are much lower.

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And so that led us to conclude that

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the majority of these deaths that

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are occurring in the first minutes of

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immersion are due to cold shock. If you can get through that phase, you've now got a much

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better chance of surviving.

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And what you've got to do to get through

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that phase is float to live.

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It's a great privilege and an honour to work

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with these organisations with the common

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purpose of saving lives at sea.

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I was at a conference, it was called Coast

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Safe, which is a collaboration between

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various maritime organisations in Devon

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and Cornwall, which actually came

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about following a tragic incident in North Cornwall.

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And Mike introduced

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the concept of float to live.

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From this, the emergency services that were

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there, which was ambulance, police, fire,

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coastguard, took the information

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and came across a decision that we would

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impart this data, this information

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source, into our operations rooms so that

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when we would get phone calls of people in

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difficulty in the water if we could get a

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message that person that was in the water to

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lie back and float that they would

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have a better chance of survival.

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So the research from the University of

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ºÚÁϳԹÏhas been absolutely critical to

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the success of the RNLI's Float to Live campaign.

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Drowning numbers in the UK around the coast

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have been in a gradual decline over the last

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four to five years.

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And whilst we can't attribute that fully

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to the impact of the campaign, we would like

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to think we are contributing to making

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a difference there and to the point that we

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have between 25 and 30 survivors

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stories who have proactively contacted the

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RNLI now to say that the float to live

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advice has helped save their life.

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And so, we would suggest that's probably the

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tip of the iceberg of the really proactive

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people that have actually come forward to

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us. So we're really proud of the impact that

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this had and the fact that float to live is

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now sort of universally accepted

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in the UK as one of our national safety

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messages, and it's talked about as part of

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the Coast Guard script.

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If someone calls in to say there's someone

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drowning in the water to talk through what

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to do. It's been picked up by schools.

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We know it's a lifesaver now, and hopefully,

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it'll save many more lives in the future.

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The research at the University and Professor

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Mike Tipton and his team, because it is a

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team, has really allowed me to understand

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what are those things that I need to think

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about and, more importantly, my 10,000

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volunteers. What do they need from me

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in order for them to learn the knowledge

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that has been gifted on behalf

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of Mike Tipton and his colleagues

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in order that our organisation and

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organisations around the country and around

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the world can use it to help keep people

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safe? And it's critical actually from the

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science making it into reality.

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Three words: Float to Live

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will leave a huge legacy.

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So the float technique is something that

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has been developed by the University of

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ºÚÁϳԹÏand Mike Tipton in cooperation

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with ourselves, the RNLI.

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The technique is very simple - it's almost

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a star shape. Legs out wide, arms

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out wide and head back.

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That gives you maximum surface area.

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The buoyancy that happens to be in your

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clothes will help you come to the surface of

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the water. Some people will find they'll

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have to scale a little bit with their hands

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in order to stay afloat.

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Some people are naturally more buoyant.

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And that position there just helps

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you acclimatise to that cold water,

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keeps your airway clear of the water

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and helps you relax and work out what your

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next move is, whether that's to call for

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help or whether it's to swim to a safer place.

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I would actually consider myself to be quite

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safety conscious.

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The only problem was it was dependent on me

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being attached to my surfboard.

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I think it was probably the first wave of

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the next set I came off

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my board. I realised quite quickly that the

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leash had broken.

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Wave after wave after wave was just

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smashing on top of me,

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and I just thought, This is it.

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About three or four days prior

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to going out surfing on my own,

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I had asked an RNLI lifeguard,

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what's the best thing to do if my leash

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breaks? The advice that they'd given about

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float on your back relax,

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that all came flooding back to me

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immediately.

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I mean, in my mind, that was the only way I

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was going to survive.

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The way I feel about the sea has completely

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changed. The key message

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is you do have it within

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your power to relax and

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have some control over that situation with

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that float to live information.

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Education is a really critical

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component feeding into preventative

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medicine. So if people know

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what's going to happen to them when they go

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in the water, they tend to deal with

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it better -- we've done studies that prove

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that. If they know how to behave and you

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teach them how to behave, then survivability

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just goes up off the scale.

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So we're running a session this afternoon

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with St Agnes Surf Lifesaving Club, a group

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of their nippers, their younger members are

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going to be down here, and we're going to be

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showing them the float to live technique and how they do it.

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Eventually, these young children, seven

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or eight years old as they are now, will be

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the 16, 17, 18-year-olds that

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we at the RNLI will be recruiting to be

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lifeguards that will, in turn, will be

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keeping us safe when we visit the beaches.

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So my hope for the future around the

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campaign and the work in general for water

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safety is that we carry on having an impact,

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and it's really brought it home to me the

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last couple of years that we have made a

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difference in real people's lives.

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The crucial thing is having the University

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of ºÚÁϳԹÏas part of that research that

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is the flagstone of everything we're all

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doing here in doing drowning prevention.

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We all need to work together, and it's that

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interoperability, which is really key.

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Many lives that we save, not just in the UK,

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but around the world.

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So the legacy for this research in my eyes

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is that it has, we know, helped to save

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lives, and I don't think from an academic

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point of view, you can really ask for

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anything more than that. And the key really

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for us is that this research, which is a

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lifetime's worth of work for Mike and the

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team, has now been applied in a way and at

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a scale that is genuinely making a

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difference. And so if we can keep doing

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that, I think that will be the legacy and

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hopefully for many years to come floating to

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live will be in the same kind of safety

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message bracket as wearing a seatbelt or

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something like that that just becomes normal

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life and that, for me, will be success and legacy.