- terrifying but true

• 60 -80 kids aged between 1 and 4 drown in Spain's pools every year

• More than 30 kids died in Portugal in 2011, almost 60 in Italy in 2010 

• More than 280 children under the age of 5 drown in swimming pools each year in the USA

• An estimated 2,100 children were treated in hospital emergency rooms in 2005 for 'pool submersion' injuries

• In 2005, 17 drowning deaths involving inflatable pools were reported

• Nearly 77 percent of drowning victims are missing for only five minutes

• Almost 70 percent of drowning victims were not seen near the pool before the incident occurred

• All parents and 'swim-supervisors' should learn Cardio Pulmonary Resuscitation (CPR)

• From 2005-2009, there were an average of 3,533 fatal unintentional drownings (non-boating related) annually in the United States — about ten deaths per day

• An additional 347 people died each year from drowning in boating-related incidents

• About one in five people who die from drowning are children 14 and younger

• For every child who dies from drowning, another five receive emergency department care for nonfatal submersion injuries

• More than 50% of drowning victims treated in Emergency Departments (EDs) require hospitalization or transfer for further care (compared with a hospitalization rate of about 6% for all other unintentional injuries)

• These nonfatal drowning injuries can cause severe brain damage that may result in long-term disabilities such as memory problems, learning disabilities, and permanent loss of basic functioning (e.g., permanent vegetative state)

Who is most at risk?

Males: Nearly 80% of people who die from drowning are male

• Children ages 1 to 4 have the highest drowning rates

• In 2009, among children who died from an unintentional injury , more than 30% of the 1 to 4 year-olds died from drowning

• In the age group of kids ages 1 to 4, most drownings occur in home swimming pools

• Drowning is the cause of death among more under 4's than any cause except birth defects (congenital anomalies)

• Among those aged 1-14, fatal drowning remains the second-leading cause of unintentional injury-related death behind motor vehicle crashes

• Minorities: Between 2005 and 2009, the fatal unintentional drowning rate for African Americans was significantly higher than that of whites across all ages

• The disparity is widest among children 5-14 years old

• The death-rate by drowning of African-American children aged 5 - 15 is almost three times that of white children in the same age range

What factors influence drowning risk?

Factors such as swimming pool access, whether or not a child can swim, and choice of water-related recreational activities all contribute to the racial differences in drowning rates

The main factors that affect drowning risk are lack of swimming ability, lack of barriers to prevent unsupervised water access, lack of close supervision while swimming, location, drug and alcohol use and seizure disorders: -

• Lack of Swimming Ability: - many adults and children can’t swim

• Research has shown that learning to swim greatly reduces the risk of drowning among all age ranges, including adults

• Safety Barriers: such as Pool Fencing or Pool Net, prevent young children from gaining access to the pool area

• A four-sided isolation fence (separating the pool area from the house and yard) reduces a child’s risk of drowning by 83% compared to three-sided property-line fencing

• Lack of Close Supervision: Drowning can happen quickly and quietly anywhere there is water (such as play-pools, swimming pools, bath tubs and buckets), and even in the presence of lifeguards

• Location: People of different ages drown in different locations

• For example, most children ages 1 - 4 drown in home swimming pools

• The percentage of drownings in natural water settings, including lakes, rivers and oceans, increases with age

• More than half of fatal and nonfatal drownings among those older than 15 years occurr in natural water settings

• Alcohol and drug use: Among adolescents and adults, alcohol and/or drug use is involved in over 70% of deaths associated with water recreation, almost a quarter of Hospital visits for drowning, and about one in five reported boating deaths

• Alcohol influences balance, coordination and judgment, and its effects are heightened by sun and heat

• Drug abuse does the same, only more so!

• Seizure Disorders: For persons with seizure disorders, drowning is the most common cause of unintentional injury death

We supply all plant and equipment featured on this website. All our work is Guaranteed; Parts and Labour

For free and unbiased advice, a site visit or no-obligation Quotation*, please make initial enquiries by email. Tell us a little about your pool problem and include a daytime phone number. Thanks, we look forward to meeting you soon

Note: - Please contact our recommended pool professionals for supply and installation of all pool-related services: - 

Andalusia and the Costa del Sol - Pool Safety Spain

Nerja area - This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

*We only offer Quotations: - a fixed, agreed price that cannot, and will not, be increased. We do not give 'estimates', as an estimate offers the client no guarantee of final price

Share this website with other Pool Owners and Users,  encourage them to read about Pool Safety, learn CPR and help them to save lives, time and money. Please help us to make every pool a safer place - by sharing this information we can cut the number of pool accidents and deaths.  Please also see our Facebook page

Ken Walker - MyPoolGuru©

- keeping Tibbles and Rover safe around the pool

If you have a pet that uses your garden, be it dog, cat, rabbit, nanny-goat, pony or Vietnamese Pot-Bellied Piglet then sooner or later it will end up in the pool - because life's like that

Brief interlude:  When we got our first plunge-pool, at a rented property in Spain in April, 2000 our Boxer dog 'Diva' fell in whilst we were in town buying groceries. We had been gone for a couple of hours so we don't know exactly how long she had been in the water but certainly it was long enough for her to have scraped all the skin from her front paws in a desperate, fruitless attempt to save herself

When we arrived she was almost completely underwater with just the tip of her nose showing. My wife swiftly grabbed a double handful of wet fur and skin on Divas' back and physically hauled her out onto the deck

Poor Diva was so exhausted she couldn't even stand for several hours. We dried her and wrapped her in a blanket and she lay shivering on her side, coughing water from her lungs and vomiting up the water from her stomach - but she survived!

How lucky we were to have arrived home no later than we did because, if we had stopped for a coffee in town, Diva would almost certainly have drowned. She never went near that pool again! She was also very anxious when we got into the pool

Diva had defecated in the water during this episode (and who can blame her?) and so, of course, we had to drain the pool, clean it and refill it - then wait for 2 whole weeks before the water warmed above our personal 'shriek' levels

Animals can drown, too

Ideally, you will prevent your beloved pet from accidentally falling into the pool by installing a pool fence, safety net or safety cover but it could still happen - and all too frequently does happen

If there is no way for the pet to climb out it will swim until it is exhausted and then it will drown

You can train most pets how to escape from a pool by putting the animal in the water and calling it to the steps

This may need to be done a few times before the pet gets the idea and they probably won't thank you for it (especially cats!) but it has to be done

If your pool has no steps consider installing a dog-ramp to aid animals to escape and train them to swim to the ramp

Dog Ramp

          Scamper Ramp saves pets from drowning

Fit a dog-ramp to the side of the pool or to ladder steps to enable pets to escape from the pool

Scamper-Ramp is an inexpensive, effective escape route for your beloved pet and any wild animal that happens to fall into your pool

Scamper-Ramp is unaffected by pool chemicals and is UV stabilized

We supply all plant and equipment featured on this website. All our work is Guaranteed; Parts and Labour

For free and unbiased advice, a site visit or no-obligation Quotation*, please make initial enquiries by email. Tell us a little about your pool problem and include a daytime phone number. Thanks, we look forward to meeting you soon

Note: - Please contact our recommended pool professionals for supply and installation of all pool-related services: - 

Andalusia and the Costa del Sol - Pool Safety Spain

Nerja area - This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

*We only offer Quotations: - a fixed, agreed price that cannot, and will not, be increased. We do not give 'estimates', as an estimate offers the client no guarantee of final price

Share this website with other Pool Owners and Users,  encourage them to read about Pool Safety, learn CPR and help them to save lives, time and money. Please help us to make every pool a safer place - by sharing this information we can cut the number of pool accidents and deaths.  Please also see our Facebook page

Ken Walker - MyPoolGuru©

- to help you and yours to stay safe in the water

Supervise When in or Around Water

• Have a set of 'Pool Rules' and display it at the pool; kids like to at least know the boundaries what's of acceptable before they start pushing them

• Designate a responsible adult to watch young children while swimming or playing in or around water

• Supervisors of preschool children should provide “touch supervision”; i.e. they should be close enough to reach the child at all times

• Because drowning occurs quickly and quietly, adults should not be involved in any other distracting activity (such as reading, playing cards, talking on the phone or mowing the lawn) while supervising children, even if lifeguards are present

• Use the Buddy System - always swim with a buddy

• Select swimming sites that have lifeguards when possible

• Seizure Disorder Safety - If you or a family member has a seizure disorder, provide one-on-one supervision around water, especially around swimming pools

• Don’t let swimmers hyperventilate before swimming underwater or try to hold their breath for long periods of time  - this puts them at risk of Shallow Water Blackout, which is a feature of many drownings

• Learn to swim and teach the kids to swim

• Formal swimming lessons can protect young children from drowning. However, even when children have had formal swimming lessons, constant, careful supervision when kids are in the water, and barriers such as pool fencing, a safety cover or a safety net to prevent unsupervised access, are still important

• Learn Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation (CPR) - in the time it takes for paramedics to arrive, your CPR skills could save someone’s life

• Air-Filled or Foam Toys are not safety devices

• Don’t use air-filled or foam toys, such as "water wings", "noodles", or inner-tubes, in place of life jackets

• These toys are not life jackets and are not designed to keep swimmers safe

• Avoid alcohol before or during swimming, boating, or water skiing

• Do not drink alcohol while supervising children

• Avoid using 'recreational' drugs before or during swimming

• Know the local weather conditions and weather forecast before swimming

• Thunderstorms with lightning strikes are potentially very dangerous so never swim during a thunderstorm

• If a thunderstorm approaches close the pool immediately

We supply all plant and equipment featured on this website. All our work is Guaranteed; Parts and Labour

For free and unbiased advice, a site visit or no-obligation Quotation*, please make initial enquiries by email. Tell us a little about your pool problem and include a daytime phone number. Thanks, we look forward to meeting you soon

Note: - Please contact our recommended pool professionals for supply and installation of all pool-related services: - 

Andalusia and the Costa del Sol - Pool Safety Spain

Nerja area - This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

*We only offer Quotations: - a fixed, agreed price that cannot, and will not, be increased. We do not give 'estimates', as an estimate offers the client no guarantee of final price

Share this website with other Pool Owners and Users,  encourage them to read about Pool Safety, learn CPR and help them to save lives, time and money. Please help us to make every pool a safer place - by sharing this information we can cut the number of pool accidents and deaths.  Please also see our Facebook page

Ken Walker - MyPoolGuru©