Swim Safe: Pool Safety

Every year hundreds die due to swimming, in 2005 there were over 3000 deaths all due to drowning.  For every 1 out of 4

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were children 14 or under, this is too many for us. With a few rules maybe we can prevent a death from happening.  The biggest killer is lack of supervision or not having a proper cover. Here are a few pool safety rules that you should have:

Pool Safety:

No Running- Many times a child runs on the deck of a pool or the sidewalk before jumping in, sometimes the deck is wet causing them to slip and fall.

Always Have Someone Watching- If you are allowing your young child outside, make sure someone is outside to watch. A child can easily slip or be unable to come up due to them getting in water that’s too deep and drown. With someone nearby watching this can be prevented. Do not have two children under 5 watching each other.

Wear floats- For the children that don’t know how to swim they should wear floating devices. Make sure they actually fit and to follow the rules in making sure they are on correctly. Don’t forget to check to make there haven’t been any recalls on them.

Pool cover-  If you have a pool you should have a pool cover as well. Yes pool covers can get expensive but they will save a child’s life as well. More children die when they venture to a pool that has no cover when you aren’t home.

Build a Fence- If you can, (I know not all places are able to do this) build a fence around the pool to prevent a child from escaping out the back door and jumping into the pool. This way they have to wait for an adult to allow them to get into it, or at least take some time for an adult to stop them.

Don’t Swim Right After Eating-  I know some will argue this but if you go swimming right after eating a big meal you can easily get a cramp. If you are in deep water this can be a bad idea as you may not be able to swim to the lower level.

Do you have any pool safety tips that aren’t listed?