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Keeping Kids Safe at the Pool
Summertime in the Sunshine State brings many families together outdoors, especially to enjoy water-related activities such as time at the pool, beach, or water parks. Parents of small children should never underestimate the potential dangers for their kids in the enjoyment of these activities, should never allow their child to get out of arm’s reach, and should be ready to prepare their children for safety and avoid a potential family tragedy.
If you or someone you know has been affected by a child’s injury of any kind, including injuries involving pools, contact the Coye Law Firm immediately for an evaluation of our possible ability to assist.
Also, with the summer season, you may find yourself mowing your lawn just as often as going to the pool. These dangerous pieces of machinery should be used with care.
Information about Pool Safety
According to the Florida Department of Health’s website:
- nationwide deaths from pool-related drowning in 2005 averaged 10 per day.
- 25% percent of those were children under age 14.
- Males were 4 times as likely as females to die by drowning
- The cause of 30% of all deaths for children ages 1-4 was drowning
- The most common place for a child ages 1-4 to drown is a residential swimming pool
- Of these deaths, at least one of the parents was usually home and reported seeing the child inside the house within the previous 5 minutes.
Pool safety with children is serious business. You can find out more from the Consumer Product Safety Commission’s “Pool Safely” page here.
Preparing Your Residential Pool
If you have a pool at your home or on your property, there are a few simple steps you can take to make the pool area as secure as possible for children.
First and foremost, all experts recommend installing a fence. The Injury Prevention Program (TIPP) as well as the FL Department of Families and Children recommend installing a fence at least 4 feet high, with self-closing gates and locks which are high enough to be out of children’s reach. If the pool area connects to a door at the house, install locks out of children’s reach and an alarm throughout the house so you can be alerted to the door opening no matter where you are.
Second, keep all chemicals locked up and safely out of children’s access. Pool chemicals are poisons which can be quickly fatal if ingested, and can cause severe burns and permanent damage to a child’s skin, eyes, or respiratory track if touched or inhaled. You can 
find out more about preventing pool chemical injuries from the Center for Disease Control here.
Third, have safety equipment ready and available in the pool area. A safety ring buoy (pictured at right), life preserver vest, and shepherd’s crook on a pole (pictured below), are all standard safety devices that it’s highly recommended you have inside the fenced pool area.
Fourth, make sure your pool has VGB compliant drain covers. An older style drain cover may allow a swimmer’s hair, clothing, or limbs to be overcome by suction and get stuck. In 2008 the VGA Pool and Spa Safety Act was put into place to ensure greater protection for users of public pools and to reduce the safety issues associated with 
pool drains.
Lastly, if you have a pool or other body of water on or near your property it would be wise for at least one adult in your home to become CPR certified. You may want to consider having all the adults in your family certified. If you have children, invest in a CPR certification class oriented toward infants and children specifically. A variety of classes are offered in locations around the state from CPRFlorida.net.
Preparing To Visit a Public Pool
Florida’s public pools are subject to a number of rules and regulations which are stricter than residential pools. Public pools are not required to provide lifeguard services, and many do not. They are required to post the various depths of the water, provide VGB compliant drain covers, line stairs with slip-proof tiles or treads, and maintain chemical levels in a sanitary and safe way. You can find all the information about the requirements of public pools from the FL Department of Health brochure here. A few things to keep in mind when enjoying any public pool:
- Never assume that because you are in public someone else is watching for your child’s safety. Even if there is a lifeguard on duty, always monitor what your child is doing and never let young children get more than an arm’s length away.
- Always read any signage posted at the pool area for numbers to call in case of an emergency, pool malfunction, or fecal matter contamination to the water.
- Never allow children to run, rough-house, or horseplay around the pool. Accidents caused by slipping and falling can result in serious injury to your child or others, and you could be considered at-fault if signage was posted prohibiting this behavior.
- Never allow children to take food, drink, or pets into the pool, and never allow glass in the pool area.
Preparing Your Children
One of the most important things you can do is educate your children in pool safety. Make it explicitly clear how important it is that they never go near a pool unsupervised. Help them help themselves stay safe. A few potential discussion ideas for you and your children are:
- Never (never, never!) go near the pool without an adult.
- Never run or play rough in the pool area. This means no pushing, skipping, jumping, etc.
- Never go in the pool without proper flotation equipment such as a life preserver (arm floaties, noodles, and inflatable toys are not proper flotation equipment)
- Never reach toward toys that are floating in the pool. Always let an adult get it.
- No elaborate or dangerous jumps off the side.
Teaching a child to swim does not mean they are safe in the pool, but it can certainly increase their chances in case of an emergency. The YMCA Safe Start Program is a well reviewed instruction program where children of any age can learn swimming techniques and pool safety. If your child does know how to swim, and is old enough to understand, you might also discuss an emergency plan in case they (or someone else) fall in the pool when unsupervised:
- Stay calm – don’t thrash or splash in the water. Swim toward the side of the pool calmly and immediately.
- Call for help once on the side. Tell them to yell and scream as loud as they can while holding firmly to the edge.
- Don’t try to climb out over the edge or reach the stairs or ladder on their own. As long as they can swim to the side they should then try to alert an adult to the situation.
Of course, multiple children should never be allowed access to a pool area without an adult, but it might happen. Explain to the child who knows how to swim that if he or she witnesses another child fall into the pool they need to call (yell, scream, holler as loud as possible) for help from an adult immediately. Teach them where the emergency flotation devices (such as life preservers or safety ring buoys) are kept, and encourage them to toss one to the distressed person while leading that person toward the edge of the pool as calmly as possible. Explain to them that calling for help is far wiser and safer for them than attempting to jump into the pool and rescue the person themselves.
Legal Assistance
Summertime is about fun and family, and the attorneys at The Coye Law Firm want to see your family enjoy yourselves in a safe and accident-free manner. However, if you or anyone you know has had a child injured in a pool accident contact an attorney who might be able to help you understand your rights and the process of any legal action available to you.