What is a shore dump?: Exploring Australian university students’ beach safety knowledge and their perceptions of Australian beach safety signage

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BackgroundOn average 122 coastal drownings deaths are recorded in Australia every year. Typically, young adult beachgoers (15–34 years old), many of whom were born overseas, account for 25 % of these fatalities. This study identifies university students as appropriate subjects for investigating typical interpretations of beach safety messages and signage among this high-risk demographic. MethodsThis study involved an online survey of Australian university students (domestic: n = 136 international: n = 84). The survey comprised both closed and open-ended questions about beach safety terms and signage. Participants were recruited through university newsletters, course announcements, social media, and at beach safety workshops. Data were analysed with SPSS for descriptive analyses and Pearson Chi-Square to test for statistical differences between domestic and international students. ResultsOver 55% of domestic and over 75% of international students did not understand the common safety terms shore dump and shore break and approximately half of both groups misunderstood the sign, always swim between the flags, believing that surfers should also stay between the flags. Concerningly, 21% of international students perceived this meant that beachgoers who don’t or can’t swim need to stay outside the flags. So what?Existing beach safety signage is not as effective as authorities assume due to linguistic and translation challenges. Some terms are improperly translated into Japanese and Chinese in the current search on Google Translate. Such linguistic issues must be addressed so as to improve the delivery of coastal safety messages.