Pediatric Law Firm

Swimming Pool Safety

On those hot summer days, kids love swimming pools and diving boards.  Parents love sitting by the pool, too, especially if they can relax for a few minutes, enjoying the happy faces of their children.  The key to relaxation, however, might be safety preparation to reduce risks to your children.

The two serious hazards of swimming pools are drowning and diving accidents. 

An estimated 260 children under age five drown each year in residential swimming pools and spas.  Another 3,000 children under age five are treated in hospital emergency rooms following submersion accidents each year.   Some of these submersion accidents result in permanent brain damage. 

The Consumer Product Safety Commission offers the following tips for pool owners and users:

• Never leave a child unsupervised near a pool, even if the child has had swimming lessons.
• Keep a telephone at pool side to avoid having to leave children unattended in or near the pool to answer a telephone elsewhere.
• Do not use flotation devices as a substitute for supervision.
• Instruct babysitters about potential hazards to children in and around swimming pools and the need for constant supervision.
• Completely fence the pool, and install self-closing and self-latching gates.  Position the latch out of reach of young children.  Keep all doors and windows leading the pool area secure to prevent small children from getting to the pool. 
• Place tables and chairs well away from the pool fence to prevent children from climbing into the pool area.
• Never use a pool or spa with its pool cover partially in place, because children may become entrapped under it.  Remove the cover completely.
• Keep toys away from the pool area because a young child playing with the toys could accidentally fall in the water.
• Remove steps to above ground pools when not in use.
• Learn CPR (cardiopulmonary resuscitation).
• Keep rescue equipment by the pool.

Diving injuries can be catastrophic.  One tragic example involves a 16 year old boy from Washington, who dove off of a cantilevered jumpboard into a residential swimming pool.  He became quadriplegic when his head struck the upward sloping floor of the pool between the deep and shallow ends.  Unfortunately, his injury was not unique.

The boy sued the manufacturer of the diving board and the National Spa & Pool Institute because its guidelines on how to construct pools created the risk of a diving tragedy and because it failed to warn of the risk of this type of injury.  No doubt, the boy would rather have the use of his body than the $11 million dollar verdict.

To minimize the risk of spinal cord or other diving injuries, parents and children should do the following:

• Educate children about the risks.
• Never dive into above-ground pools; they are too shallow.
• Don’t dive from the side of an in-ground pool.  Enter feet first.
• Dive only from the end of the diving board and not from the sides. 
• Dive with your hands in front you and always steer up immediately upon entering the water to reduce the risk of hitting the bottom or sides of the pool. 
• Don’t dive if you have been using alcohol or drugs because your reaction time may be too slow. 
• Never slide head first down pool slides; feet first only to reduce the risk of spinal cord injury.