Key Takeaways:
- The red and yellow flags on Australian beaches are meant to indicate a safe and patrolled area for swimming, but are often misinterpreted by international visitors.
- The flags are not universal and are used differently in various countries, leading to confusion among tourists.
- Drowning rates in Australia continue to rise, with people born overseas making up a significant proportion of these deaths.
- The current system of using red and yellow flags may not be effective, and alternative methods of communicating beach safety should be considered.
- A redesign of the flags or a change in the wording of safety messages could improve understanding and reduce the risk of accidents.
Introduction to Beach Safety in Australia
Every summer, millions of people flock to the beaches in Australia, and while many have a great time, thousands are rescued by lifeguards or Surf Life Savers, and tragically, some lose their lives. The red and yellow flags that are iconic to many Australians are meant to be a simple and easy-to-understand message, indicating a safe and patrolled place to go in the water. However, for many international visitors, the message is less clear, and research has shown that they often misinterpret what the beach flags indicate.
The Meaning and History of the Red and Yellow Flags
The red and yellow flags have been a part of Australian beach culture and safety since the 1930s, marking the patrolled area of the beach. The idea is that if someone swims between these flags, they are under the watchful eye of professional lifeguards and/or volunteer surf lifesavers. The flags are usually positioned on an area of beach away from rip currents, which are responsible for an average of 26 drownings a year and the vast majority of surf rescues. However, recent studies have found that many international students interpret the red and yellow flags as indicating a dangerous area, with about 70% of South Korean university students and 60% of Japanese students holding this misconception.
Global Variations in Beach Flag Systems
Globally, beach flag systems are not standardized, and different countries use different colors, symbols, and messages to communicate beach safety. For instance, in Brazil, Spain, and some areas of the United States, beaches use a traffic-light color system, with green indicating safe conditions, yellow indicating caution, and red indicating danger or closed conditions. In some northern parts of Spain, yellow flags are used to mark designated "cooling off" areas, despite red "danger" flags being in place. The International Life Saving Federation recommends a global set of eight beach safety flags, including the familiar red-and-yellow for patrolled swimming areas, but explicitly discourages the use of green flags to denote "safe" conditions, as no beach or patrolled area can ever be completely risk-free.
Communicating Beach Safety to International Visitors
Even if people don’t know what the flag colors mean, beach signs in Australia often say "swim between the flags." However, research at Bondi Beach in Sydney found that around 30% of overseas-born beachgoers misunderstood this message, thinking it meant only people who can actually swim should go there. This is exactly the opposite of what the safety message intends. Translation tools are not a reliable fix, as a recent study found that key hazard terms are incorrectly translated by Google Translate. For example, the term "shore dump" is rendered in simplified Chinese as "岸边场," which means "a place on the shore to dump rubbish."
Potential Solutions to Improve Beach Safety
Redesigning the flags might help improve understanding, and a recent study conducted in Europe developed and examined a modified version of the red and yellow beach safety flag, incorporating a pictogram of a lifesaver. This study found that adding the pictogram nearly doubled participants’ correct understanding of the flags. Some experts have also advised that changing "swim between the flags" to "stay between the flags" could improve the translation, as "swim" has different connotations in different cultures and languages. Simply changing the colors of flags for Australian beaches may not be enough, and alternative methods of communicating beach safety should be considered. The red and yellow flags are tied to a century of lifesaving culture, volunteerism, and community trust, but that legacy shouldn’t stop us from testing whether green flags or other methods could improve our beach safety communication.