Personal Injury Law

Water Safety Tips for Children

Posted by Paul Cornoni

As the warm months approach, it is important to review a few key water safety tips for children. Please refer to our prior blog on pool safety as well.  According to the National Safety Council, over 3,000 people die by drowning each year and children age four and younger have the highest death rate due to drowning.  A child can drown in one inch of water. Most drowning and near-drowning incidents occur when a child falls into a pool or is left alone in the bathtub. Bathtubs, buckets, toilets, and hot tubs present drowning dangers as well. Never leave a child alone near water.

Water safety for children is vital and it is a good idea to learn children's water safety and to enroll children over the age of three in swimming lessons taught by qualified instructors, such as American Red Cross certified programs.  However, even children who have successfully completed lessons or who are strong swimmers should always be supervised.

 A few important safety tips for parents as published by mychildsafety.net:

• Always keep your swimming pools fenced and locked.
• Pool owners should invest in a pool alarm.
• Always remove covers from pools before swimming. Partially covered pools are dangerous and crucial to children's water safety.
• Never take your eyes off your child even if he/she isn't swimming.
• Make sure diving boards are securely anchored and well constructed.

For information about this topic or your legal rights, please click here or call the law firm of Regan Zambri & Long, PLLC at 202-463-3030.  

Full post as published by DC Metro Area Personal Injury Law Blog on May 16, 2009 (boomark / email).