In addition to maintaining the Queensland Child Death Register, we are responsible for analysing the information it holds to identify trends and patterns in child mortality and for conducting research to reduce the likelihood of child deaths. We have developed the Safer pathways through childhood framework, which sets the direction of the QFCC’s child death prevention activities for the next five years.
The framework provides an overview of how we will target child death prevention and how we will highlight the experiences of groups of children at increased risk of death during childhood. Each year we will identify specific prevention activities to address these priorities under an annual action plan.
We have a key role in improving the safety and wellbeing of Queensland’s children and their families and have a legislated responsibility to maintain a register of all child deaths occurring in Queensland, to report on trends and patterns, and to conduct research aimed at preventing future deaths.
This information paper was prompted by our previous research which had found an increase in the rate of pool drowning from 2014.
This report considers fatal and non-fatal immersion incidents of children aged 0–4 years in Queensland that have occurred in pools covered by Queensland’s swimming pool safety legislation (regulated pools). It uses information from the Queensland Child Death Register, immersion notifications and the Queensland Pool Register to identify regional patterns and findings about the two key methods of drowning prevention—pool fencing and supervision.