Winter’s bite is still chomping down hard on many parts of the country, but spring and summer weather are soon approaching. It’s a perfect time to talk to your children about safety around swimming pools. Whether the pool is in your backyard, at the home of one of your children’s friends, or at the community center, young children must understand the dangers of swimming pools and how to enjoy them safely.
Resources Can Help You Teach Your Children
For more than ten years, the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission has conducted its Pool Safely campaign. The program is an outgrowth of the Virginia Graeme Baker Pool & Spa Safety Act.
The law has played a critical role in achieving major improvements in water safety and drowning prevention. The law intended to increase the safety of pools and spas, thereby cutting down on child drownings, injuries, and deaths, particularly those caused by suction entrapment incidents. Among the law’s provisions is a public education program that focuses on child water safety and drowning prevention. Since the law was enacted, no child deaths involving drain suction entrapments have taken place in public pools and spas.
Simple Steps Can Significantly Decrease Your Child’s Accident Risks
Whether the pool is at your home, a friend’s or neighbor’s home, at your community center, or is a public pool, you can easily ensure that your child has the knowledge to stay safe. The CPSC Pool Safely education campaign teaches simple steps that save lives around swimming pools and spas. These steps include:
- If the swimming pool is at your home, install a four-sided fence with a self-closing, self-latching gate around all pools and spas. If the pool is at the home of one of your children’s friends, suggest they do the same.
- Designate an adult or water-qualified older teen to supervise children at all times around the water.
- Learn how to swim and teach your children how to swim.
- Learn how to perform CPR, on children as well as on adults.
- Teach children to stay away from pool drains, pipes, and other openings to avoid drain suction entrapments ensnaring them.
- Ensure every pool or spa has drain covers that comply with federal safety standards.
Nearly 350 children younger than 15 drown each year in swimming pools or spas. Hospital emergency rooms treat about 5,900 children each year for non-fatal drowning injuries. Children younger than five make up about 75 percent of child drowning fatalities. Take advantage of state and federal campaigns to teach your child pool safety.
Was Your Child Injured in a Swimming Pool Accident in the Richmond Area? Call Our Office Today
Even if you take all appropriate steps to teach your children swimming pool safety, accidents happen. Those accidents may take place at pools that fail to comply with state or federal law or otherwise are maintained or operated negligently.
You want just compensation for injuries to you and your family. Emroch & Kilduff specialize in personal injury law. We can help. Call us at (804) 358-1568 or contact us through our online contact form.
