Water safety: a significant summer concern
Excerpted from the
AboutKidsHealth website. AboutKidsHealth provides trusted answers from The Hospital for Sick Children for families' health questions.
"As the hot summer sun beats down, for many parents and children thoughts turn to the cooling relief of swimming pools and lakes. While a refreshing dip may be just the ticket, now is a good time to consider safety issues when it comes to children and water, both at home and further afield.
Each year, more than 100 children and youth in Canada drown and many more have close calls. It seems that a new drowning tragedy is reported almost every week. The most common situations for drowning are boating, recreational, and bathtub drowning. Children under five are more likely to drown or nearly drown than any other age group, followed by children aged five to nine years old. Among toddlers, drowning accounts for more than 20% of injury-related deaths and is the second major cause of death through injury.
"You always need to supervise your child when he or she is in or near water. Drowning can happen in seconds, in the time it takes you to answer a phone,” says Laveena Sethia, an injury prevention information specialist with Safe Kids Canada, the national injury prevention program of the Hospital for Sick Children.
This means you must stay close enough to touch your child when in the bath tub, home swimming pool, public pool, or lake. Supervision is the best way to prevent drowning.
Backyard swimming pools
Parents should make sure there is a fence that completely surrounds the backyard swimming pool on all four sides. The fence needs to be 1.2 metres (4 feet) high and have a self-latching gate. Check with your municipality to make sure that your pool follows local by-laws for backyard swimming pools.
Some people have a fence on three sides and consider the house to be the fourth side. But in this case, “you’re protecting the neighbourhood kids and not your own,” says Sethia, since a child can exit the house through sliding doors and directly enter the pool unsupervised. If any door in the house leads directly to the pool, make sure the door closes by itself and has a lock high up on the door that a child cannot reach and open.
Keep these pool safety tips in mind:
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Always have an adult watching children in the pool, preferably one who knows cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) and lifesaving techniques.
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Enroll children in swimming and water safety lessons when they are at least 4 years old. Water safety programs for adults and younger children are also available.
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Taking swimming lessons does not ensure that a child will not drown. You still need to watch your child closely in and around water.
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Children can drown in seconds; don't turn away to answer the phone or concentrate on something else. Don't assume that a child in trouble will be able to make noise to alert you.
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Make sure lifesaving and first aid equipment is close to the pool. Keep emergency phone numbers nearby.
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Children under the age of 3 or children who cannot swim must wear personal flotation devices (PFDs). Be sure that the PFD is a Canadian-approved device and that all parts of the PFD are in good condition. Users of inflatable PFDs should follow manufacturer’s instructions so they can help their children use them correctly. Remember that air-filled toys, water wings, and air mattresses are not a substitute for a PFD.
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Always check the pool first if a child is missing.
Lakes and rivers
Because lakes and rivers aren't fenced in, it's even more important to watch children closely when at the cottage or the beach. Remember these safety tips:
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Give your children your full attention. Make sure children know that they must always tell an adult before they go swimming.
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Children under the age of 3 or children who cannot swim should always be wearing a PFD in or around water.
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Put children on the buddy system so that if one is in trouble, the other can call for help.
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Make sure children swim close to shore. They should be able to see you at all times.
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Teach young children how to swim or play within arm's reach.
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Swim at supervised waterfronts and beaches.
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Choose a safe place to swim. Check for hazards on the beach and in the water, including water pollution levels.
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Watch for boats and jet skis while swimming.
Boating
By law, boaters must have appropriately sized PFDs for each person aboard the boat, though they do not have to be worn. Pay special attention to your children’s PFDs, advises the Canadian Safe Boating Council. These should be selected by size and weight, and have collars to keep their heads up in the water, a handle on the collar to lift them, and a safety strap so the PFD does not slide up over their head. Test the PFD first in a pool to make sure it works and fits properly.
PFDs are not made for children under age 1 (or 9 kg). For children under 1, Safe Kids recommends finding an alternate land route to the destination, finding a sitter for the child, or simply not making water trips until the child is older.
Here are some boating tips:
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Don’t rock the boat. Move slowly when you enter the boat because it could tip over, or tip you out, if you are not careful.
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Children should always wear a PFD when boating.
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Children should keep their arms, legs, and head inside the boat at all times.
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A designated adult should be able to see the child at all times to make sure the child does not fall into the water, which may be too deep or rocky.
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If sleeping on board the boat, make sure young children cannot open a door or window and get outside unsupervised. A two-year-old girl in British Columbia drowned recently after opening a screen door on a houseboat and sliding into the water.
Bath tubs
At home, drowning in the bath tub is not uncommon. Very young children do not have the motor skills to lift their heads above water or get themselves out of the water. "They can drown in water that is just two inches deep," says Sethia. Parents may momentarily turn their backs or rely on a sibling to watch an infant.
Bath Seat
Lock the door to the bathroom to prevent a child from getting into dangerous situations in the bathroom. They may attempt to run a bath on their own in the same way they have seen a parent do it.
Many parents like to use bathing aids such as bath seats or rings to free up their hands to wash their baby. These plastic seats use suction cups to attach to the bottom of the tub, and are designed to secure an infant who is approximately seven months of age (around the time the child can sit upright unassisted). A recent survey found that 46% of parents in Canada use or have used bath seats.
Safe Kids Canada advises against using bath seats because babies have been known to slide out of the seats or the suction cups can come loose and the baby may topple over. The seats also give parents a false sense of security and they may leave the child unattended momentarily. Children in the tub should be within arm’s reach at all times and should not be left alone even for a second.
"Bath tubs aren’t the only water-based hazard in the home; buckets of water, wading pools, and even washing machines put curious toddlers at risk of drowning also," explains Sethia. Drain wading pools and buckets after use.
Facts about children and water safety
According to the Canadian Red Cross and the Canadian Institute for Health Information:
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Drowning is one of the leading causes of death for Canadian children aged one to five.
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On average, an estimated 500 people in Canada drown every year.
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Children under five are involved in more drowning or near-drowning incidents than those in any other age group.
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For every child who dies from drowning, it is estimated there are six to 10 additional near-drownings, which require hospitalization.
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One in four children in Ontario who experience near-drowning have permanent brain damage as a result.
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Most drowning incidents do not involve swimming: 76% of children who drowned or nearly drowned in 2002-2003 were playing or walking near water.
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In nearly half of infant and toddler drownings, the victims were alone.
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A small child can drown in only a few inches of water — enough to cover the mouth and nose.
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The most common location for infant drownings is the bathtub.
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Home swimming pools account for 38% of toddler drownings.
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Since 1991, only 4% of reported toddler drownings were in pools with self-closing and self-latching gates.
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If all home pools were equipped with self-closing and self-latching gates, nearly all toddler pool drownings and about one-third of all toddler drownings could be eliminated.
