With the winter coming to an end, very soon it will be pool season. For those with pools you may have younger children and their friends coming to your home for a swim. As the responsible party, you will want to be prepared. There are many ways to improve safety around the pool and in the pool. You can improve safety by setting rules and educating yourself and other swimmers. Metropolitan Pools will share some swimming and pool safety tips below.

How Common is Drowning in a Pool?

Drowning is a real problem. There are nearly 1000 children under the age of 19 that drown each year. There are about 7000 children that are sent to the emergency room due to drowning incidents. Deaths from drowning is most common in children the ages of one through four, but a third of drowning deaths are children that are older. Drowning is a real concern. Anyone with a pool can have a potential disaster on their hands. With this in mind, there are ways to improve pool safety and never be the stage for a possible drowning.

Ways to Stay Safe While Swimming in a Pool

Role of a Water Watcher: It is very import that little and even older children that can swim are still watched. Every pool should have a designated “watcher.” A Watcher should be an adult or older teen that will watch the children that are in a pool. A watcher should never distract themselves with a tablet or cell phone. All distractions are put aside and their only job is to watch the swimmers, much like a lifeguard. Do not make being a watcher a drag, rotate your designated watchers in 15 or 30 minute intervals. This way you will always have an attentive watcher. When children, even good swimmers, are in the pool always have a watcher to ensure everyone is safe.
Teach Children to Swim: Make sure you take the time to teach your children how to swim. If you do not feel like you have the time or know all of the swimming techniques to keep your children safe, you can even hire professional swimming trainers. It is very important that children know how to properly swim in a pool and in open water. Swimming in a lake, river, or ocean is much different than a pool. Open water has random changes in the bottom’s elevation, undertow, and visibility. When teaching children to swim, there are five essential survival skills they should know:
• When water over is their head, learn to jump up to return to the surface.
• Know how to turn around in water to reorient themselves to find safety.
• Teach children how to float or tread in water.
• Teach how to combine breathing with swimming forward.
• Instruct children where and how to safely exit the water.
Learn CPR: The pool owner as well as your pool watchers, should learn how to do CPR. If a child does drown you will want to know how to save the child’s life. When a child drowns you have a short period of time to save their life. You do not have time to wait for an ambulance to arrive to save the child. Of course, you will want to still call 911, but you will want to begin doing CPR until they arrive. You still want the child to receive medical care as secondary drowning can still occur.

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For pool installation and maintenance services, lifeguard training and more, contact Metropolitan Pools today.