Pool & Water-Related Safety

Summer is a terrific time to splash and swim - in the pool, at the beach, or in the river. Whenever near a body of water, it's extremely important that you take care to ensure the safety of yourself and your family members. Unintentional drowning is a serious and ongoing risk for anyone who dips their toe into anything larger than a bucket of water. 

Who is most at risk?

The risks related to unintended drowning affect a wide range of people, and the fact is, without proper care, anyone can become a victim of a water-related accident. There are some groups more at risk than others, including:

• Males: According to recent studies, males were four times more likely than females to die from unintentional drowning.
• Children: Amazingly, of all children one to four years of age who died for any reason, nearly 30% died from drowning. Although drowning rates are slowly declining, fatal drowning remains the second-leading cause of unintentional injury-related death for children ages one to 14 years.
• Minorities:
  • Between 2000 and 2005, the fatal unintentional drowning rate for African Americans across all ages was 1.3 times that of whites. For American Indians and Alaskan Natives, this rate was 1.8 times that of whites. ^{(source: CDC)}
  • Rates of fatal drowning are notably higher among these populations in certain age groups. The fatal drowning rate of African American children ages 5 to 14 is 3.2 times that of white children in the same age range. For American Indian and Alaskan Native children, the fatal drowning rate is 2.4 times higher than for white children. ^{(source: CDC)}
    
  • Factors such as the physical environment (e.g., access to swimming pools) and a combination of social and cultural issues (e.g., valuing swimming skills and choosing recreational water-related activities) may contribute to the racial differences in drowning rates. If minorities participate less in water-related activities than whites, their drowning rates (per exposure) may be higher than currently reported.

What are the major risk factors?

According to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), there are some significant factors related to unintentional drowning risks, including:

• Lack of barriers and supervision. Children under one year most often drown in bathtubs, buckets, or toilets. Among children ages one to 4 years, most drownings occur in residential swimming pools.6 Most young children who drowned in pools were last seen in the home, had been out of sight less than five minutes, and were in the care of one or both parents at the time. Barriers, such as pool fencing, can help prevent children from gaining access to the pool area without caregivers’ awareness.
• Age and recreation in natural water settings (such as lakes, rivers, or the ocean). The percent of drownings in natural water settings increases with age. Most drownings in those over 15 years of age occur in natural water settings.
• Lack of appropriate choices in recreational boating. In 2006, the U.S. Coast Guard received reports for 4,967 boating incidents; 3,474 boaters were reported injured, and 710 died. Among those who drowned, nine out of ten were not wearing life jackets. Most boating fatalities from 2006 (70%) were caused by drowning; the remainder were due to trauma, hypothermia, carbon monoxide poisoning, or other causes. Open motor boats were involved in 45% of all reported incidents, and personal watercraft were involved in another 24%.
• Seizure disorders. For persons with seizure disorders, drowning is the most common cause of unintentional injury death, with the bathtub as the site of highest drowning risk.
• Alcohol use. Alcohol use is involved in up to half of adolescent and adult deaths associated with water recreation and about one in five reported boating fatalities. Alcohol influences balance, coordination, and judgment, and its effects are heightened by sun exposure and heat.

Water-Related Injury Prevention Tips

Keep the following in mind when developing a water safety plan:

• Designate a responsible adult to watch young children while in the bath and all children swimming or playing in or around water. Adults should not be involved in any other distracting activity (such as using a phone of any kind, texting, cooking, sunbathing, etc.) while supervising children.
• Always swim with a buddy. When traveling or at the beach, try to find a location that is protected by lifeguards whenever possible.
• Avoid drinking alcohol before or during swimming, boating, or water skiing. Do not drink alcohol while supervising children.Adult fatalities often occur after "just a few drinks" with friends.
• Learn to swim. Be aware that the American Academy of Pediatrics does not recommend swimming classes as the primary means of drowning prevention for children younger than four. Constant, careful supervision and barriers such as pool fencing are necessary even when children have completed swimming classes.
• Learn cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR). In the time it might take for paramedics to arrive, your CPR skills could make a difference in someone’s life. CPR performed by bystanders has been shown to improve outcomes in drowning victims.
• Do not use air-filled or foam toys, such as “water wings”, “noodles”, or inner-tubes, in place of life jackets (personal flotation devices). These toys are not designed to keep swimmers safe.

If you have a swimming pool at home:

• Install a four-sided, isolation pool fence that completely separates the house and play area of the yard from the pool area. The fence should be at least four feet high. Use self-closing and self-latching gates that open outward with latches that are out of reach of children. Also, consider additional barriers such as automatic door locks or alarms to prevent access or notify you if someone enters the pool area.
• Remove floats, balls and other toys from the pool and surrounding area immediately after use. The presence of these toys may encourage children to enter the pool area or lean over the pool and potentially fall in.

If you are in or around natural bodies of water:

• Know the local weather conditions and forecast before swimming or boating. Strong winds and thunderstorms with lightning strikes are dangerous.
• Use U.S. Coast Guard approved life jackets when boating, regardless of distance to be traveled, size of boat, or swimming ability of boaters.
• Know the meaning of and obey warnings represented by colored beach flags.
• Watch for dangerous waves and signs of rip currents (e.g. water that is discolored and choppy, foamy, or filled with debris and moving in a channel away from shore). If you are caught in a rip current, swim parallel to shore; once free of the current, swim toward shore.