Swimming Safety Tips

Each year in the United States of America, over 4,000 children ages 19 and under are seen in emergency rooms for injuries from near drowning events. Swimming pools are the most common site for a drowning to occur among children ages 4 and under. Daby Snipes with Safe Kids Upstate offers these pool safety tips to ensure children are staying safe. “A really interesting study came out and said the more children in the pool, the more chances of someone drowning. You think of one child getting back into a pool that does happen, but there are lifeguards on station at many public pools that you probably go to and they cannot watch 30 children effectively. Now they do a great job, but even though there is a lifeguard present, someone still needs to be that water watcher for that child, take turns. It is really sad these circumstances because it is not moments but it is minutes before they realize that a child is under the water.” There are even more safety tips to follow when swimming in a lake, adds Snipes. “We have a lot of tourists and visitors come out to our beautiful lakes, which is so great, but you need to be familiar with the lake that you are swimming in. We know in times of drought that there are dips in the lakes and people step off into holes and things like that. At full pool it is not quit as dangerous, but it still is because you just don’t know, you can’t see the bottom of the lake. There are trees and all kind of things that can cause entrapment. So, on these lazy afternoons when you are floating you can now get hauled away too far from shore and things like that. So, just be very mindful of where you are at and then think there might be boats in open waters. We find that with many drownings occur because people get out a little too far and then can’t get back to shore.” The U.S. Coast Guard requires that all children under age 13 wear a personal flotation device while on a recreational vessel. It is estimated that half of all drowning events among recreational boaters could have been prevented if personal flotation devices were worn.