Swimming Pool Drowning Prevention

Child Safety: Drowning Prevention

Water is fun to play with, but it can also be deadly. Use these tips to protect your children from its hazards.

Children are irresistibly attracted to water. It's sparkly. Things float in it and it makes a sound when you smack it.

But water can also be dangerous. More than 1,000 American youngers drown each year. The age groups at greatest risk are toddlers and adolescent males. And for every child that drowns, there may be as many as four nonfatal submersions serious enough to require hospitalizatioin.

Neighborhood Swimming Pools: About 300 chuildren under the age of 5 drown each year in U.S. swimming pools. In each of the incidents, most victims were being supervised by one or both parents. It takes only a few minutes for a child to drown. More than three-quarters of children who drown at neighborhood pools are missing from sight for less than five minutes.

The key to preventing these tragedies is to have multiple layers of protection. These precautions can help keep children safer around swimming pools.

Fence It In: Pools should be completely surrounded by fencing material. Gates should be self-closing and self-latching. The latch should be out of the child's reach.

Install Alarms: If you house is one of the walls of your pool enclosure, doors leading to the pool area should be protected with alarms. In addition, add an underwater pool alarm which sounds when something hits the water. Make sure you can hear the alarm inside the house.

Teach Children To Swim: But remember that swimming lessons won't drown-proof a child. The age to teach children to swim is the same as to ride a bike - age 5. Children under the age of 4 years usually aren't developmentally read for formal instruction in swimming.

<< Pool Fencing Articles