Swimming Pool Safety
Summer Fun - Year Round Danger
Home pools are becoming more common every day. They provide an excellent means of recreation for your entire family and friends a large part of the year.
But beware; they are dangerous if not monitored properly.
You must be aware of the potentially hazardous properties of a pool. An accessible pool is more dangerous for your toddler than a loaded gun laying out on your coffee table. In a child's hands eventually it will go off! But unlike the gun going off and where the bullet will strike, the outcome with a toddler falling into a pool undetected is almost certain.
Just how serious is the problem? Drowning is the number one cause of death for children under five in Florida, Arizona, and California with a ranking of number two for over a dozen other states. For every drowning there are eleven near drowning incidents, according to government statistics; many of which result in totally disabling brain damage.
The majority of the parents involved were responsible people who thought it could never happen to their family. They were careful and had close supervision over their children. Many were in good income brackets, educated, and could afford nice homes with pools in family oriented communities. So we are literally talking about people who could live next door to you.
If drowning were a disease it truly would be referred to as an epidemic with all the public attention and awareness possible focused on an epidemic of such proportion.
A study conducted by the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission to find out how child drowning incidents occur indicates that: SUPERVISION CAN AND DOES FAIL.
The investigation by the Commission was directed at children under age five in Arizona, California, and Florida who had drown in home swimming pools. The results might help you to better understand why drowning is still the number one killer for three states and stands at number two for the nation:
Who was in charge of supervision at the time of drowning?
69 percent of the accidents occurred while one or both parents were responsible for supervision.
10 percent were adults other than the parents.
14 percent were sitters.
7 percent siblings
What was the location of the pool drowning?
65 percent were in a pool owned by the child's family.
22 percent at a relatives
11 percent happened at a neighbor's.
Drowning happens quickly and without warning. There is no cry for help. 77 percent of the children had been seen 5 minutes or less before being missed and subsequently discovered in the pool. Where were they last seen?
46 percent WERE LAST SEEN IN THE HOUSE prior to being found in the pool. Of these, 15 percent were thought to be sleeping.
23 percent were last seen in the yard, porch or patio, not in the pool area. That's a total of 69 percent that were thought not to be in the pool area.
31 percent were last seen in the pool or pool area.
What activity was the person responsible for supervision involved in at the time of drowning?
39 percent were doing chores.
18 percent socializing.
9 percent were busy on the telephone.
The suddenness of this type of accident and the results it yields is devastating to anyone
it touches. When you think pool; think hard core. Even if this is not your personality; you
must be an absolute dictator. Let your children know without any doubts, that is your way or none at all.