Each year nationwide about 300 children under 5 years old drown in swimming pools, usually a pool owned by their family. In addition, more than 2,000 children under 5 are treated in hospital emergency rooms for submersion injuries.
 
The US Consumer and Product Safety Commission in a comprehensive study of drowning and submersion incidents involving children under 5 which occurred in Arizona, California and Florida concluded the following:
 
1. 75% of the submersion victims studied were between 1-3 years old; 65% of this group were boys.
 
2. Toddlers, in particular, often do something unexpected because their capabilities change daily.
 
3. At the time of the incidents, most victims were being supervised by one or both parents. 46% of the victims were last seen in the house; 23% were last seen in the yard or on the porch or patio; 31% were in or around the pool before the accident. In all 69% of the children were not expected to be at or in the pool yet they would found in the water.
 
4. The study also concluded that submersion incidents involving children usually happen in familiar surroundings. 65% of the incidents happen in a pool owned by the child’s family and 33% of the incidents happen in a pool owned by friends or relatives.
 
5. Pool submersion involving children happened quickly. A child can drown in the time that it takes to answer a phone. 77% of the victims had been missing from site for about 5 minutes or less.
 
6. Survival depends on rescuing the child quickly and restarted the breathing process while the child is still in the water. Seconds count in preventing death or brain injury.
 
7. Child drownings are silent death. There is no splashing to alert anyone but the child is in trouble.
 
The following are some of the measures, which can be taken, to equip private pools regardless of when they were constructed, to protect against this terrible tragedy from ever occurring.
 
Child proof fences or other barriers such as a wall should be installed completely around the pool. Doors leading from the house to the pool should be equipped with an alarm or the pool should have a power safety cover which would require that it would withstand the weight of 2 adults and a child to allow a rescue should an individual fall onto the cover.
 
The important fact to remember when there are children in or around a swimming pool is that even with adults present, the child drowning or submersion injury can occur when the adults are distracted even for a few seconds. The safety precautions should be in place whenever it is anticipated that children 5 years old or younger, are anticipated to be either near or at the pool area.
 
If your family has been involved in this type of tragic circumstance or situation, please contact Gary Sernaker for any assistance he can offer you.