Swimming Pool Accidents and Drowning
Florida has the
highest number of swimming pool accidents and swimming pool injuries in the nation.
They arise in the form of accidental drowning, diving accidents, spa drain
entrapment.
Backyard pools can be a fatal attraction to
toddlers under 5 years old. Between 60-90 percent of drowning among children aged 0-4
occurred in residential pools. More than half of these occur in the child’s own
home.
Children between the ages 1-4 most often drown in
swimming pools, spas, and hot tubs. Even near drowning, where child has been without
oxygen for a minute or more, can cause devastating, permanent, and irreversible brain injury,
permanent brain damage, or other neurological injury.
Spa Drain
Entrapment
Among the most devastating and
gruesome pool accident injury and pool-related death cases are defective drain entrapment
cases.
Innocent children and young adults
have literally been disemboweled – intestines and colon and rectum ripped from their bodies – by
powerful suction pumps and single drain pool and single drain spa configurations. These drain
entrapment injuries occur in older swimming pools and spas that have only one drain -- also called
single drain pool, single drain spa, single drain hot tub.
Spa Drain Entrapment
Injury
When the child inadvertently sits
on the spa drain or draining device, it creates a vacuum, and the suction from the pump keeps
pulling and hyper-suction of any blockage, including a child’s body. As a result, children die
from drowning or blood and organ loss.
Even in these instances where the
child survives, the catastrophic lifetime challenges are beyond fair description. These child
victims of spa drain entrapment accidents require extensive hospitalization, multiple
reconstructive surgeries, lifetime care needs, and force these children pool injury victims to live
on feeding tubes and colostomy care for the remainder of their lives.
Pools that have one drain outlet
are defective, illegal, and hazardous. They represent a hidden and deadly danger
for everyone.
Every swimming pool should have dual drains, so if one is blocked, the other
keeps functioning as a failsafe. The dual drains diffuse the force and suction power that trap
children. Dual drains eliminate the danger of the vacuum power holding youngsters down in the water
and catastrophic injuries of death that are sure to follow such a tragic event.
There are now federal regulations
requiring dual drains for all pools, spas, and hot
tubs, and other safety measures for older pools.
Solar Blankets and Pool
Covers
These hazards can be tempting for
any children to hunch down and play with at the swimming pool’s edge. Within moments, the child can
fall into the pool and become entangled or wrapped in the blanket or cover. The results can be
catastrophic.
Pool Diving
Accident
While many residential pools are not engineered or
constructed to provide for an adequate angle and space to dive into – even from the deep end –
you would not this by the marketing surrounding residential pools.
DO NOT -- EVER -- DIVE IN ANY
RESIDENTIAL POOL!
A pool diving accident often
results in catastrophic spinal cord injury, including quadriplegia, paralysis, and
death.
Because there is not sufficient
angle for a diver to recover to avoid striking the bottom, the result is often tragic. Divers
strike their head on the bottom of the pool, breaking their necks. This can and too often does lead
to paralysis, such as quadriplegia or paraplegia. If no one is present to help the inured diver,
then drowning is an added high risk. Residential pools are defectively designed for
diving. No one should ever dive into a residential pool.
What you Can Do: Family Pool Safety
Plan
Please incorporate any or all of
these safety precautions into your family pool safety plan:
- Always supervise children, regardless of
whether or not they know how to swim.
- Teach your child to swim. You can enroll
in swimming classes offered at your local YWCA, YMCA, high school, or
college.
- Install and maintain four-sided isolation
pool fencing that is at least 5 feet high.
- Install self-closing and self-latching
gates.
- The fencing should entirely enclose the pool
and spa.
- Install motion detectors.
- Become certified in cardiopulmonary
resuscitation (CPR). This usually takes only a few classes offered at your local YWCA, YMCA,
high school, or college
- Install door alarms, required on new homes
built since 2003 in Florida, on all doors that open onto a pool deck, patio, or lanai.
- PROHIBIT ALL DIVING.
Pool Accident
Claim
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