The safety actions of surfers in Victoria, Australia: assessing the impact of water safety and first aid training

Recreational surfers in Victoria, Australia were surveyed every four weeks for 128 weeks about their beach safety actions when surfing. While previous studies have explored rescues performed by surfers over their surfing career/lifetime, this study is the first to provide data on safety action that incorporates a ‘per event’ denominator of exposure (safety action per 100 surfs). Victorian surfers reported giving safety advice, first aid and assistance in the water at average rates of 11.6, 0.4 and 1.1 times per 100 surfs respectively. We found that surfers with a board rescue qualification provided beach safety advice on average 3.1 more times per 100 surfs (29 % more often) and first aid 0.4 more times per 100 surfs than (or 3 times the rate of) surfers without this qualification. The difference between the rate of assistance provided by surfers with and without board rescue and first aid qualifications were not statistically significant. We estimate that surfers may provide safety advice up to 739,209 times, first aid 25,490 times and assistance 70,097 times per year in Victoria. The economic value of lives saved by survey respondents through surfer assistance in the water is estimated to be $848 million (2023 AUD). Extrapolating this economic value to the impact of all surfers in Victoria, the potential value of lives saved is $3.8 billion (2023 AUD). Results confirm the importance of the safety actions of surfers to other beachgoers and point to the positive impact of board rescue training and qualifications on surfer beach safety actions.