Pool Injuries and Drowning: An Often Unrecognized Killer

With the recent heat wave that has hit Virginia (VA) as well as the entire East Coast many families are turning to swimming pools to keep cool and have fun. As a father and Virginia personal injury attorney, I have seen a number of tragedies that have occurred during the summer season. 

Here are some good safety tips to keep your family safe.

First, during warm-weather parties there can be a dozen or more kids running around the pool as grownups chat. Don't be lulled into a false sense of safety just because there are many adults nearby. Good pool supervision means scanning the area every 20 seconds when children are in the water, with an adult no more than 10 seconds away.

Don't rely on a 12-year old to watch smaller children, no matter how strong a swimmer the older child may be. If you own a pool you can take some steps to protect your own children, as well as others. A 4-foot fence around a pool with a self-closing, self-latching gate and locks beyond a child's reach are recommended.  Also -- and this is one most people don't think about -- if you own a small plastic wading pool, empty it when not in use. Infants can drown in as little as an inch of water.

Also, if swimming in an apartment or hotel pool keep and eye on your children. There have been cases in which people have drowned due to the negligence of unqualified lifeguards. Personal injury or wrongful death occurring in swimming pools, especially those with a lifeguard are highly preventable if basic lifeguarding principles are followed.

Finally, if a child goes missing and there's a pool around, head there first. Not there? Then head to the neighbor's pool and the other neighbor's pool. Pool deaths are called the silent killer.  Sometimes kids just slide under the water with hardly a splash and never come out again. 

Our personal injury law firm has experience in handling injury and death cases involving careless and negligent conduct not only in Virginia (VA), but throughout the Southeast, and we often must locate experts in whatever area of law is involved in each case, whether lifeguard training or duties, or any other area of expertise.

CA