A campaign is being launched aimed at changing men's attitudes towards drinking around water, with new figures suggesting alcohol has contributed to the drownings of almost 500 Australian men over the past decade.
The research by Royal Life Saving Society (RLSS) found almost 2,000 men died in water-related accidents in Australia between 2006 and 2016.
RLSS spokesman Craig Roberts said about a quarter of the drowning victims were found to have alcohol in their system.
"What we do know about the research is of those males who were drinking around waterways and have drowned as a result, 66 per cent of them would have failed a drink driving test," Mr Roberts said.
"That's a large number of people who are over that drink driving limit and there is a larger number of people who are severely intoxicated as well."
Men are ignoring messages about the need to look out for each other to prevent more lives being lost, according to the RLSS.
Mr Roberts said the research behind the Don't Let Your Mates Drink and Drown campaign being launched today found an "alarmingly high" number of the drownings were preventable.
"This is a program about males talking to each other and saying those little things like maybe we've had too much, maybe it's time we go home, I don't think it's a good idea to go swimming," he said.
"This is not a case where we need to wait for other things to happen.
"We need the individuals, we need the mates to make that first step to try and prevent these drownings."
The study comes after repeated findings showing men are more likely to drown than women, with the latest information accounting males for 80 per cent of drownings.
The findings highlighted men aged between 35 and 55 were at greatest risk when it came to alcohol-related drownings, in contrast to previous reports that generally showed men in their late 20s were most likely to drown at Australian beaches.
Mr Roberts said middle-aged men were most likely to be drinking in and around water, including beaches and inland waterways.
"They're typically parents, people with older children, who are also coming into that age where alcohol consumption is being undertaken and that's where the campaign is really looking at influencing those individuals to look after each other," he said.
"They're also a person of influence for their children in those teenage years."
