Just one month after launching its multilingual Water Safety initiative, STA is thanking its Brand Ambassadors, members, partners, businesses and community organisations for helping take potentially lifesaving advice into everyday locations across the UK.

What started as one simple idea – to make essential water safety information more accessible to people and families whose first language is not English – has quickly grown into a community-led campaign reaching far beyond swimming pools and leisure centres.

Removing the language barrier

The idea came during the exceptionally hot summer of 2026, when, as more people headed to beaches, rivers, lakes and other open-water locations, the number of drowning fatalities being reported was deeply concerning.

STA began looking at the practical barriers it could help remove. One was language.

Much of the water safety information people encounter in the UK is communicated in English. For people and families for whom English is not their first language, this can make simple, potentially lifesaving advice less accessible.

Importantly, water safety education is not only about the person entering the water. It happens within families and communities, with parents, grandparents and other family members all playing a role in helping children understand the dangers around water, how to stay safe and what to do if they get into difficulty. Those adults also need that knowledge to protect themselves if they unexpectedly find themselves in trouble.

While water safety information in different languages can be found online, STA did not believe people should have to search through multiple websites or large volumes of information to find basic advice that could help save a life. Nor can it be assumed that people will actively search for water safety advice before they need it.

Water safety education needs to reach people before an emergency happens.

That became the principle behind STA’s multilingual Water Safety initiative: make the most important messages simple, immediately accessible and, crucially, visible within communities – in the places people shop, learn, exercise, worship and go about their everyday lives.

From seven languages – and growing

STA initially translated the Water Safety Code and Float to Live advice into Welsh, Punjabi, Urdu, Bengali, Gujarati, Polish and Romanian, with the languages deliberately selected using Government population and language data.

But the campaign was never intended to be a fixed list. As the resources began circulating, members and communities started identifying where there was further need.
In just one month, the initiative has:

• Expanded in response to community need to include Ukrainian, Arabic, Irish, French and Spanish;
• Created corresponding translated Float to Live videos, with QR codes on the posters taking users directly to the relevant video; and
• Invested charitable funds in printing thousands of posters, while making every version free to download, print and share.

A request for an Irish version came from someone wanting to distribute the posters around Dublin, while the Arabic resources were supported by a member of the community who subsequently requested copies for workplaces and local mosques in Tamworth and the surrounding area.

The entire initial campaign – from identifying the need and commissioning professional translations to creating the posters, videos and QR-code links – was brought together in less than 10 days.

Taking water safety into everyday communities

Central to taking those resources out into communities has been STA’s team of Brand Ambassadors.

Rather than simply distributing posters to swimming pools, Ambassadors have used their knowledge of their local areas to identify the everyday places where people shop, work, exercise, travel, meet and spend their time, while also contacting their local MPs to help extend the campaign’s reach.

Within just one month, the resources have reached everyday locations across the UK, including:

• Community centres, shops, supermarkets and post offices;
• Medical settings, leisure centres, gyms, cafés, charity shops, and family venues;
• Businesses and faith settings;
• Train stations and other transport hubs; and
• Parks, waterside venues and locations directly associated with open water.

In Wales alone, activity that began across more than 13 venues in Llanelli quickly spread into Carmarthenshire and Swansea.

Elsewhere, Ambassadors have taken the resources directly to locations associated with open water, including community noticeboards, parks, waterside venues and tourist visitor centres.

Communities taking the idea further

One of the most encouraging responses has come from a community centre which took a copy in every available language and then offered to print more itself, distribute them through other sites in its network and use the resources within its ESOL courses.

The campaign is also gaining momentum through national and local partnerships.

STA has worked with GLL (Greenwich Leisure Limited) to create specially branded versions of the multilingual posters, which are now being rolled out across its Better network of public leisure and community facilities.

Following the BBC’s 2026 School Swimming report, STA also sent the resources to Mayors in areas particularly affected by low levels of children’s swimming ability, asking for their help in taking the messages further into their communities.

This has already opened new routes for distribution, including in Greater Manchester, where the resources are being shared through schools and community spaces, and in Slough, where the local authority recognised their relevance to its diverse population and approached STA about promoting them through social media and other community channels.

And the campaign continues to grow organically, with people approaching STA to request additional languages and finding new ways of sharing the information within their own communities.

‘Something far bigger than we could have achieved on our own’

Dave Candler, CEO of STA, said: “What started as one simple idea has grown in just a few weeks into something far bigger than we could have achieved on our own.

“I want to personally thank every Brand Ambassador, member, partner, local authority, community organisation, business and individual who has displayed a poster, shared a resource or helped spread the message.”

“STA might have started this campaign, but it is the people who have got behind it who are now giving it real reach.

“And that was always the point. Water safety information should not sit waiting for someone to find it. Through #LoveWaterSafely, we want to take it out into communities, make it accessible and help more people understand how to keep themselves and others safe.”

Find out more and help to continue spreading the messages by downloading and sharing STA’s free water safety resources:

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