Swimming With Care !

During summer there is a lot of pleasure in and around water for everyone. But there are some precautions to be taken. It must be understood that any body of water no matter how innocuous, poses a drowning risk, especially to children under 4 years of age. Approximately 50 % of pre-school drowning occur in residential pools.

Normally s child , a guest or any other person drowns while swimming in the presence of others who are in the same pool. The onlookers wonder how such a drowning can occur.

The pattern of swimming pool deaths is similar in all the cases. A common person is unfamiliar with pool’s depth, slope and bottom configurations. In the beginning he is untrained and can drown in the absence of a coach. When a person enters the pool for the first time, if he panics he splashes water atop the surface ,then slips underwater out of others’ view. His major concern is to breathe,so he never yells for help.

Tragically hundreds of children drown in swimming pools everyday. Instead of blaming irresponsible lifeguards it becomes necessary to educate children on these aspects if they are old enough to understand or if they are unable to follow your instructions it is best to accompany your child to the pool and keep an eye on him all the time.

A ten year old child went for swimming lessons for ten days and when her mother saw she could swim well she stopped accompanying her for the lessons .After about a week the child tried to try the deeper end of the pool .Her hand got caught in the drain .By the time she was rescued the damage had been done to her young brain. She suffered anoxic brain damage.

Even if people survive accidents in the swimming pool , they often suffer brain or spinal damage. In many cases improper coverage of drains causes the most damage since the pressure of water is so high where the water is drained out that small children are unable to withstand it.

There is this case of a small girl whose hair got caught in the drainage resulting in brain damage. Her hair had to be cut off to rescue her but neither she nor her parents could ever recover from the shock.

Before choosing swimming classes for your children it becomes necessary to visit the swimming pools yourself and make quite sure whether it is safe for your child or not. Diving boards set at the shallow end of the pool can cause spinal damage for good.
Making sure that the pool is quite clear is not enough. It could be contaminated with bacteria or other germs since so many people use the pool. Regular chlorination kills most of the germs but some still remain.
If the pool is not chlorinated and kept clean it can lead to various skin problems and ear infections. Accidental drinking of pool water can lead to stomach disorders and other diseases.

If you or your loved one is injured or killed as a result of swimming pool accident, you may be able to file a “premises liability” against negligent pool owner but the life lost cannot be recovered. We need to consider the legislation as well as education of parents , children and swimming pool managers. Never leave a child unsupervised near the pool. Providing constant supervision for anyone below the age of 12 or anyone who cannot swim is the best option left.

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