Drowning

Thousands of children are injured or killed from drowning related accidents each year.

Resources

CPSC Report
http://www.cpsc.gov/library/poolsub2008.pdf

Mayo Clinic: Prevent Drowning
http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/child-safety/CC00045

CDC: Water-Related Injuries: Fact Sheet
http://www.cdc.gov/ncipc/factsheets/drown.htm

Articles

Swimming safety tips
By AMY KOSSOFF SMITH
The Business of Motherhood

Summertime brings fun, splashing around, and unfortunately, heightened safety concerns for parents. I think that we can’t be attentive enough when it comes to swimming pools. The heat, combined with exhaustion and overconfidence, can lead to serious accidents.

Take precautions for pool safety
Detroit Free Press
July 12, 2008

The numbers aren’t huge, but each story is a heartbreaker: A 2-year-old boy found dead in a swimming pool in Clinton Township. A 1-month-old girl floating lifeless in her family’s Brownstown Township pool. A 17-month-old boy drowned in his family’s Birmingham pool. Every year, on average, 300 children ages 5 years or younger die in residential swimming pools around the country, and more than 3,000 are injured in near-drowning accidents. That’s up from a yearly average of 267 in 2002-04, the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission says in a new report.

Tips for Parents

1. Fence in swimming pools in your backyard. Make sure gates are childproofed or alarmed
2. Make sure to cover pools when not in use with a sturdy cover that could hold the weight of two adults and one child
3. Teach children to swim and remove all toys from pools when not in use
4. Never allow a child to swim alone in an open body of water like an ocean or a river.
5. Wear a life jacket and stay in designated areas when boating or swimming in open waters
6. Supervise children while they are in the bathtub
For more tips see: http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/child-safety/CC00045