Water Safety: Layers of Protection

In Florida, drowning is the leading cause of accidental death for infants and young children under the age of four years. In the United States, drowning is an epidemic for this age group. Bonita Springs Fire-Rescue promotes three lines of defense to help stop this epidemic and protect our children.

• Constant adult supervision in and around the water

• Maintaining a safer home pool environment.

• Safe, effective survival swimming instruction for children as young as six months.

Constant Supervision: Continuous supervision is the only sure way to prevent drowning. However, supervision can break down. If you cannot find your child, check the pool first. The following steps should be taken to ensure adequate supervision:

• Never leave your child alone in the bathtub or pool- not even for a second. Don't think the "unthinkable" will not happen to you.

• Bring your portable home phone or cell phone by the pool so you don't have to leave the pool area to answer the phone.

• Leave a responsible adult in charge of safety. Do not delegate this task to an older child or sibling. This is too much responsibility. Many children have drowned with their older brother or sister in the pool.

• Never assume someone else is watching your child. If you and a spouse are by the pool, make sure the person in charge of supervision knows it's his or her responsibility.

• The leading cause of distraction to constant supervision around the pool is an adult leaving to answer the phone or the door. If you must leave, bring the children.

Is Your Pool Safe? Several precautions can be taken to make your pool safer for children.

• Make sure the pool has a permanent fence around all four sides of the pool. The side of the house should not be the fourth side. Install a permanent fence designed to keep children out of the pool. Make sure the fence is designed to keep children out of the pool. Make sure the fence is at least 4-6 feet high and that it cannot be climbed. Remember that children can crawl through a pet door. This should be considered when placing a barrier fence.

• Do not leave chairs, ladders or other objects near the pool that would allow a child to get over the fence.

• Keep the pool clean. Cloudy or murky water can be a hazard.

• Water levels should be two to three inches from the top to make climbing out easier.

• A recessed, in-floor cleaning system is preferred over a self-propelled system. A child can become entangled in the hose and be pulled under the water.

• Position jets in the pool so that a floating object would end up in the shallow end near the steps or ladder.

• Ladders and swim outs or built-in steps should be located at each end of the pool and made of non-slip materials.

• When building a pool. avoid high curved edges that are hard to reach or tile at the top edge of the pool that can be slippery and difficult to hold.

Survival Swimming Programs: The last and most important line of defense against childhood drowning is teaching infants and young children how to survival swim. If your child does find himself alone in a pool or body of water, his survival swimming skills could save his life. Keep these guidelines in mind when deciding on a swimming program.

• Choose a program that will teach your child how to handle himself in the water before he is encouraged to play in it. The water is not a fun, safe place to play if your child does not know how to swim.

• Question everything about the swimming program. Question the qualifications of the instructor and the program. Ask what specific skills will be learned and techniques used to teach these skills.

• Be sure your child will learn how to swim, turn on his back to float, rest and breathe and flip back over to swim to the wall. This sequencing of skills is very important to get your child to safety.

• Make sure all swimming lessons are on an individual basis. Never enroll in a program where the instructor must divide attention in the water between several students learning to swim.

• Watch several lessons, ask questions of other parents whose children are enrolled in the program and ask your pediatrician about any swimming program.

• Be sure your child's instructor can thoroughly explain hyponatremia (water intoxication) to you. And, ask what precautions are taken before and during the lesson to avoid such a situation.

• Do not allow your child to be worked with in the water longer than 10 minutes. Any longer than 10 minutes could be potentially dangerous to a small child.

• Do not enroll your child in any swim program before the age of 6 months.

• Do not enroll your child in any swimming program that uses any type of floatation device. Floatation devices can lend a false sense of security to both you and your child.

• Do not allow anyone to throw your child into the water. This is extremely dangerous and could result in brain damage.

• Do not believe that your child or anyone will be drown-proofed by any lessons. No one is ever drown-proof. Constant supervision in and around the water is the only sure way to prevent drowning.