Building water safety, skills and opportunity across regional WA

For more than 20 years, BHP has partnered with Royal Life Saving Society of Western Australia (RLSSWA) to improve water safety and create education and employment opportunities in regional and remote communities across Western Australia.

Many of these communities face higher risks around water safety, limited access to training and fewer local job pathways. Aboriginal people are disproportionately affected, with significantly higher rates of drowning and water‑related incidents.

Since 2003, the partnership has delivered aquatic education to build safer communities while opening pathways into skills, training and employment, especially for Aboriginal young people.  

The initiative aims to turn community pools into hubs for health, learning and local development and includes:

• Swim and Survive - reaching more than 14,000 participants, including nearly 2,000 infants, building essential water safety skills;
• Swim for Fruit - encouraging participation through healthy incentives;
• Paddle on Country - combining kayaking with cultural learning and community connection;
• Spirit Carnivals – swim meets promoting inclusion and active participation;
• No School, No Pool - encouraging school attendance through pool access incentives;
• Talent Pool - a workforce program creating jobs at local pools for Aboriginal young people.

Through the Talent Pool program, participants gain accredited training and support into employment, helping build local capability and keep skills within communities to ensure local pools can operate safely. To date, the program has created employment for 71 young people.

The partnership is part of BHP’s Social Investment Framework and Indigenous Peoples Strategy, supporting empowered, thriving communities