This information has been provided by Andrew Hall, Specialist Safeguarding Consultant (www.safeguardinginschools.co.uk) and we have added additional links.
The summer holidays bring a different category of risk: rivers, quarries, railway lines, canals, reservoirs, open water of every kind. Many of these are in familiar areas, but for many there will be new adventures in places far away, including other countries.
What is one risk that you would highlight to children that they might not anticipate?
Possible answers
Cold water shock
Most children think the danger is “can I swim.” The real danger on a hot day is the sudden drop in temperature when they jump into a river, quarry or the sea, which can cause involuntary gasping and panic even in strong swimmers.
Alcohol at someone else’s holiday home
Away from usual supervision, in a villa or caravan with an older sibling’s friends, the first drink a child has may be poured by someone who isn’t thinking about their welfare at all.
Being “brave” in a new peer group
On a family holiday or at a summer camp, a child meeting new peers for the first time may take a higher level of risk purely to raise status, with none of the social history that would normally make a friend say “don’t.”
Language and signage barriers abroad
A warning sign in a foreign language, or a lifeguard who doesn’t speak English, may simply not register as a warning to a child used to relying on words.
Abandoned sites
Quarries, disused factories, derelict buildings, construction sites have hidden dangers including unstable roofs, abandoned machinery or chemicals, unsecured scaffolding, sudden drops, and materials that were never designed to be climbed on.
National media highlight school holidays urban exploration dangers
VPS White Paper – Safer Sites, Safer Futures (Web)
Silent drowning
In open water, a child who is out of their depth often won’t shout or wave, because that’s not what drowning looks like. Friends need to know that silence and stillness are the warning signs, not splashing.
Silent Drowning: What It Looks Like | WaterWiseKids
Heat as a risk of its own
Long walks, cycling, or sport in unfamiliar heat, especially abroad, can cause heatstroke and dehydration, especially in children.
Heatstroke and heat exhaustion first for children and babies
Getting lost
On a big family holiday, a child may wander off with a new friend without anyone else registering they’ve gone, especially in a large resort or unfamiliar city.
Local rip currents
A child confident in a calm lake at home may have no concept of what a rip current is, and no instinct for how to respond if caught in one.
Rip Currents – Water Safety Advice And Drowning Prevention
The phone running out of charge
For older children given more independence over the summer, a dead phone in an unfamiliar place removes their main safety net faster than they’d ever think to plan for.
