Pool Safely: A Call To Action This Memorial Day Weekend

Memorial Day weekend is a time of family get-togethers, barbecues and the traditional start of the summer swimming season. Hundreds of thousands of children will flock to community and backyard swimming pools to cool off and splash around. Unfortunately, it has already been a tragic start to the year for many. In the first five months of 2011, there have been 118 drownings and near-drownings reported in 29 states, including Guam, across America. My message to parents this Memorial Day weekend is a simple one: be aware of pool safely and be vigilant in and around the water.

At the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC), we believe that one incident is one too many. Drowning is a leading cause of death for children, but it is preventable.

In the past few months, there have been 18 drownings and near-drownings in Arizona. Fourteen of these incidents have been since the beginning of April. In the Buffalo area, there have been four near-drownings, including an incident involving two two-year-old boys. In February, two boys, ages nine and 10, nearly drowned in a Cheektowaga, NY, hotel pool.

Unfortunately, these scenarios are replayed across the country.

A look at last year's pool and spa incidents indicates that the number of injuries and deaths remains too high. In 2010, the media reported more than 530 drowning and near-drowning incidents nationwide.

Each of these incidents represents a family tragedy.

As the Chairman of the CPSC, I have been traveling the country urging parents and children to follow simple water safety steps to protect themselves in and around pools and spas. I am proud to be joined by Olympic swimmer, Janet Evans, in Southern California to kick-off the second year of our national public safety campaign. Pool Safely: Simple Steps Save Lives aims to reduce childhood drownings, near-drownings and entrapments in and around swimming pools and spas. The campaign was created as part of the Virginia Graeme Baker Pool and Spa Safety Act (P&SSAct), which mandated new safety requirements for swimming pools and spas, including a national education campaign.

We all remember -- and applaud -- the heroic actions of a young boy last month who used a Pool Safely safety step -- CPR -- to save his sister in Mesa. Our Pool Safely partners, Safe Kids USA and the American Red, appeared on NBC's Today Show to offer water safety tips. And on Mother's Day weekend, a young girl saved her three-year-old cousin from drowning in South Carolina (my home state) because she was watching and alert.

To pool safely is to watch your children at all times, know life-saving water skills like CPR (or know how to swim) and ensure you have the appropriate safety equipment installed in your pool or spa. Pool alarms and self-latching gates can help keep the little ones from getting into the pool area. Installing a four-foot fence around residential swimming pools and spas is another simple water safety step that can help to prevent an incident. The Pool Safely campaign recommends adopting as many water safety steps as possible.

Adding just one extra safety step around the water can make all the difference. You can never know which safety step will save a life -- until it does.

 

Follow Inez Moore Tenenbaum on Twitter: www.twitter.com/OnSafety

Comments

[Dr Debrup Chatterjee]

10:23 AM on 05/30/2011

Nice informative article but I fail to understand that how are these kids left all alone in the water ? Parents must always be present and look at what the kids are upto Its nice to hear about children who saved lives but in first place such incidents should never happen . The problem is of the fast life and parents working - so they are often unable to pay attention towards their kids as we do here in India . These deaths are really shocking !

[horsenomad]

09:35 AM on 05/29/2011

I have been working in the swimming pool industry for (38) years and would like to explain a few things to everyone relative to safety. Allow me to first explain entrapments., a classic entrapment is a suction line attached to only (1) drain at the bottom of the pool or spa. Deep suction lines are to be attached to (2) drains on the same line, this way when a bather sits or stands on one drain, the suction is diverted to the other drain. This is common sence, however there are tens of thousands of pools and spas plumbed incorrectly. All household members and guests should always know where the safety shutoff switch is. The next major concern are drownings, little do most people realize that there are floating alarm systems available. These alarms send off a piercing siren if the water's surface is disturbed. As with most things, they too range in price, but are generally under $200, and some are equipted with a remote that can be brought inside the home while the kids are in the pool. The last concern, and perhaps the most dangerous of all, is pool chemicals. There are many different types of Chlorine, and when added together are flash explosives. Use great care and always close the containers securely. I have also seen soda pop react with Chlorine causing a fire! Never-ever put (any) type of chemical in a skimmer basket (except) Chlorine tablets!