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Backyard pool drowning
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| Photo courtesy:D&D technologies. Child protected from pool access by fencing barrier |
The most common cause of drowning for children from age one to four is backyard pools. Drowning is the second leading cause of death for Canadian children, and it happens quick and silently.
Here's how to help reduce the risk to your child:
Install a 1.2 m (4ft) high, four-sided fence with a self-closing, self-latching gate around your home pool.
Installing a 1.2 m high, four-sided fence with a self-closing gate helps prevent children from reaching the pool. Not having a fence allows children dangerous access to the pool. Proper fencing, using vertical bars instead of horizontal or chainmesh bars, could prevent seven out of 10 drowning incidents in private swimming pools for children under age five.
Stay within sight and reach of your child when in, on or around the pool.
Drowning usually happens when a child just slips under the water. A child can drown in as little as 2.5 centimeters (1 inch) of water in only a second. 42 per cent of all children who drowned in the past ten years did not have an adult watching them. Adults should stand within arm's reach of any child under five or any older child who does not swim well when they are in water or playing near the water.
Learn how to swim or have your child supervised by an experienced adult. Know First Aid and CPR.
Making sure there is an experienced swimmer with your child whether they are in, on or around the pool is important. If your child happened to slip into the water it is necessary to have an experienced swimmer present to quickly get the child out of the water and perform CPR, if necessary.
Put young children and weak swimmers in lifejackets when in, on or around the pool.
Lifejackets provide extra protection to your child, however supervision must also take place. Lifejackets do NOT prevent drowning.
Put your child in swimming lessons.
It is best to ensure that children have training, but it is important to not assume that it provides them with special protection or extra care. Supervision is very critical, even if your child was or is in swimming lessons.
