Supervision key in drowning prevention

BY ELYSE AMEND

elyse.amend@transcontinental.ca

With the summer months approaching quickly, many homeowners in the West Island are getting ready to prepare their pools for fun in the sun. But those with young children should also keep prevention in mind. “The number one thing is supervision. There’s nothing that replaces that,” said Jack Smith, president of the Canada Safety Council.

According to the Safety Council’s website (www.safety-council.org), there were 472 drownings in lakes, rivers, and pools in Canada in 2000, many of which could have been prevented. “The drownings that happen in the backyard pools with kids, virtually all of them are preventable by adult supervision,” Smith said. “If the phone rings, take the kids inside with you.”

About 46 per cent of drowning victims aged one to four are alone at the time of drowning, while an additional 17 per cent are accompanied only by other children. About half of the toddlers drown when the person supervising them is distracted, even if only for a moment. Drowning is also the second leading cause of unintentional death among Canadian children between one and fours years old, with motor vehicle collisions as the first.

In addition to constant supervision, the Canada Safety Council recommends a few other measures homeowners can take to make their backyard pools more secure. “We strongly recommend a fence completely encircling the pool with a self-locking gate,” Smith said, adding doors leading directly onto the pool deck should also be locked. Sliding doors should also have a bar, installed higher up, which prevents children from opening the door themselves. Smith also said people should teach their children to swim as early as possible, and not to rely on such things as flotation devices and water wings. “I wouldn’t use water wings or flotation devices and rely on that. What if they deflate or happen to come off?” Smith said. “We don’t really recommend those. The answer is to prevent it in the first place and not to rely on something after the fact.”