On reading a tragic story about a woman in Florida losing both her small children to an accident (One dead, once critical) in her apartment complex pool, I look at the picture of the swimming pool. It is not gated and the internet news story reports that Florida has more deaths to under fives than any other state.
I am reminded about safety rules in Australia and other parts of the USA. I visited a Singapore apartment complex (they call the grander ones with swimming pools condos) for a writers' group meeting. The pool was closed off. The reason was a child had just died in the pool. Later I read in the Singapore newspaper that the child had died during a family celebration. I think it might have been a wedding. The mother and the maid (equivalent of a UK au pair or nanny) were both busy preparing food or cleaning and each thought the child was safer with the other person. the child had wandered off and fallen in the pool. Or even jumped in, not realising the depth and danger. I thought back to my earlier overseas stay in the USA and the safety rules in that area.
USA Safety In Swimming Pools
When I lived in Rockville, Maryland, way back in the 1980s or 1990s, our complex had safety rules in place. Netting the height of a tennis net surrounded the pool, locking the pool, making it inaccessible to children and adults at all times, except when unlocked by the life guard.
(The pool was open only in summer. In snowy winter and during cleaning the pool might have been empty or covered, could have frozen over like a dangerous and tempting ice rink, or been concealed under snow.)
I understood it was a rule of either or both the local regulations or the insurance that the pool had to be enclosed to prevent access by adults when there was no lifeguard.
(This prevented all kinds of accidents adults accidents, such as people taken ill, drunks and trespassers) also children (accidents and pranks).
You had to have two life guards. That ensured somebody could take over if the other one went off to answer a query, eat or use the bathroom/restroom (US terms - UK toilet).
The life guards were arranged on a rota. The lifeguards were paid little, but got free use of the pool, experience for a cv. They were often the young adult children of families living in the complex.
I assumed these rules applied all over the USA, but it must have been only in the suburb of Washington DC where we were living. The Florida pool in a newspaper picture in March 2014 seems to have no barriers.
Australian and New Zealand Safety in Swimming Pools
I learned about Australian swimming safety measures when I was on a skiing trip in New Zealand (round trip from UK with stopovers in Singapore). I went to look at the stamp album display at the local post office. The texts under the postage stamps showed the stories behind each postage stamp.
If I remember correctly, an Australian safety organisation tracked down the accident records from drowning and were surprised to find that most accidental deaths were not in the sea but in the back garden swimming pools. As a result they brought in regulations that swimming pools (and probably ponds) should be fenced in, gated and locked when unoccupied, to prevent children accidentally falling or, or going swimming unsupervised.
I presume Australia and New Zealand have similar rules.
Learning To Swim
As soon as I got pregnant I insisted my husband learned to swim. If I had not already been a swimmer I would have taken swimming lessons. At some time you are likely to be near a pool or beach with your children or others. The complexes with pools should organise swimming and life saving.
Lifesaving Skills
Whilst anybody can wade into a paddling pool and pull out a baby, it's not so easy saving an adults in deep water such as the deep end of a swimming pool or in waves in the sea if your feet can't touch the bottom of the pool, - especially if the person in trouble is large and heavy.
I tried to save my mother, a non-swimmer, who crossed into the deep end of a hotel swimming pool, when I was a teenager. I screamed when she went across the line and sank. I jumped in. She grabbed my neck and we both went under.
You have to know how to turn somebody around and support them from underneath so they don't drag you under.
Luckily I had shouted and my father, fully clothed, and another man both jumped in. They both took one arm of my mother and rescued my mother.
I was left to find my way back to the side. I'd been under water for a few seconds. I nearly choked, coughing and spluttering, gasping, trying to doggie paddle back to the side.
Schools should be teaching swimming and life saving. I realise that you have to have access to a pool to practise. You cannot learn to dance or swim without actually doing it. But the first half of any lesson is when the teacher tells you and shows you how it is done. The expensive part of the lesson is the demonstration. The demo shows you what to do. It gives you the confidence to try it out. Afterwards you keep practising by yourself.
Even showing videos of swimming and life saving would be better than nothing. It would encourage children to speak to their parents, or ask their parents for lessons. The parents might then raise funds for school or out of school lessons, write letters to the organisers, or take their children for lessons.
It would give them the first half of the lesson, so that they would progress faster. Even a non-swimmer in an accident would at least have the blueprint in their mind and some clue as to how to take action to reach the side of the pool or boat. Whilst in many cases just the video is not enough, even if it made the different to one pupil in 100, or one in a thousand, that would be several lives saved every year.
What are the readers' comments? Some have the same thought as mine - why is that pool not gated? Another comments on babysitter safety rules. An excellent suggestion - when you are in the bathroom and can't supervise the children, you ask them to stand outside the door and you keep talking to them. While listening to them, you know exactly where they are and what they are doing. You hold their attention and can be sure they have not wandered away but are alive and safe.
Travel Tip
Think about all the situations you might be in and check out what safety devices you can take when travelling. For example, At home you might keep your toddlers in a playpen at home. You probably can't travel with this by plane. But a foldable one probably can go in a car or caravan.
What about when walking. Young children when walking with you in busy streets, near cliff tops, rivers, beaches, swimming pools etc, could be attached to you, perhaps by extending reins.
I would not want to fall asleep with a child on a rein. It could get tangled or strangle itself.
At home you might consider installing a horse box door or bar door, so you can see under or over the door, whilst still having some privacy.
What about the talking idea - keep children talking when you are in a bathroom. If the toilet has a gap under the door and you are inside, ask to see their shoes.
Give them something to do. e.g. ask them to read to you from a book, tell you where they want to go later, or for older children, give them a map and ask them to call out details of attractions or instructions for a computer.
I am reminded about safety rules in Australia and other parts of the USA. I visited a Singapore apartment complex (they call the grander ones with swimming pools condos) for a writers' group meeting. The pool was closed off. The reason was a child had just died in the pool. Later I read in the Singapore newspaper that the child had died during a family celebration. I think it might have been a wedding. The mother and the maid (equivalent of a UK au pair or nanny) were both busy preparing food or cleaning and each thought the child was safer with the other person. the child had wandered off and fallen in the pool. Or even jumped in, not realising the depth and danger. I thought back to my earlier overseas stay in the USA and the safety rules in that area.
USA Safety In Swimming Pools
When I lived in Rockville, Maryland, way back in the 1980s or 1990s, our complex had safety rules in place. Netting the height of a tennis net surrounded the pool, locking the pool, making it inaccessible to children and adults at all times, except when unlocked by the life guard.
(The pool was open only in summer. In snowy winter and during cleaning the pool might have been empty or covered, could have frozen over like a dangerous and tempting ice rink, or been concealed under snow.)
I understood it was a rule of either or both the local regulations or the insurance that the pool had to be enclosed to prevent access by adults when there was no lifeguard.
(This prevented all kinds of accidents adults accidents, such as people taken ill, drunks and trespassers) also children (accidents and pranks).
You had to have two life guards. That ensured somebody could take over if the other one went off to answer a query, eat or use the bathroom/restroom (US terms - UK toilet).
The life guards were arranged on a rota. The lifeguards were paid little, but got free use of the pool, experience for a cv. They were often the young adult children of families living in the complex.
I assumed these rules applied all over the USA, but it must have been only in the suburb of Washington DC where we were living. The Florida pool in a newspaper picture in March 2014 seems to have no barriers.
Australian and New Zealand Safety in Swimming Pools
I learned about Australian swimming safety measures when I was on a skiing trip in New Zealand (round trip from UK with stopovers in Singapore). I went to look at the stamp album display at the local post office. The texts under the postage stamps showed the stories behind each postage stamp.
If I remember correctly, an Australian safety organisation tracked down the accident records from drowning and were surprised to find that most accidental deaths were not in the sea but in the back garden swimming pools. As a result they brought in regulations that swimming pools (and probably ponds) should be fenced in, gated and locked when unoccupied, to prevent children accidentally falling or, or going swimming unsupervised.
I presume Australia and New Zealand have similar rules.
Learning To Swim
As soon as I got pregnant I insisted my husband learned to swim. If I had not already been a swimmer I would have taken swimming lessons. At some time you are likely to be near a pool or beach with your children or others. The complexes with pools should organise swimming and life saving.
Lifesaving Skills
Whilst anybody can wade into a paddling pool and pull out a baby, it's not so easy saving an adults in deep water such as the deep end of a swimming pool or in waves in the sea if your feet can't touch the bottom of the pool, - especially if the person in trouble is large and heavy.
I tried to save my mother, a non-swimmer, who crossed into the deep end of a hotel swimming pool, when I was a teenager. I screamed when she went across the line and sank. I jumped in. She grabbed my neck and we both went under.
You have to know how to turn somebody around and support them from underneath so they don't drag you under.
Luckily I had shouted and my father, fully clothed, and another man both jumped in. They both took one arm of my mother and rescued my mother.
I was left to find my way back to the side. I'd been under water for a few seconds. I nearly choked, coughing and spluttering, gasping, trying to doggie paddle back to the side.
Schools should be teaching swimming and life saving. I realise that you have to have access to a pool to practise. You cannot learn to dance or swim without actually doing it. But the first half of any lesson is when the teacher tells you and shows you how it is done. The expensive part of the lesson is the demonstration. The demo shows you what to do. It gives you the confidence to try it out. Afterwards you keep practising by yourself.
Even showing videos of swimming and life saving would be better than nothing. It would encourage children to speak to their parents, or ask their parents for lessons. The parents might then raise funds for school or out of school lessons, write letters to the organisers, or take their children for lessons.
It would give them the first half of the lesson, so that they would progress faster. Even a non-swimmer in an accident would at least have the blueprint in their mind and some clue as to how to take action to reach the side of the pool or boat. Whilst in many cases just the video is not enough, even if it made the different to one pupil in 100, or one in a thousand, that would be several lives saved every year.
What are the readers' comments? Some have the same thought as mine - why is that pool not gated? Another comments on babysitter safety rules. An excellent suggestion - when you are in the bathroom and can't supervise the children, you ask them to stand outside the door and you keep talking to them. While listening to them, you know exactly where they are and what they are doing. You hold their attention and can be sure they have not wandered away but are alive and safe.
Travel Tip
Think about all the situations you might be in and check out what safety devices you can take when travelling. For example, At home you might keep your toddlers in a playpen at home. You probably can't travel with this by plane. But a foldable one probably can go in a car or caravan.
What about when walking. Young children when walking with you in busy streets, near cliff tops, rivers, beaches, swimming pools etc, could be attached to you, perhaps by extending reins.
I would not want to fall asleep with a child on a rein. It could get tangled or strangle itself.
At home you might consider installing a horse box door or bar door, so you can see under or over the door, whilst still having some privacy.
What about the talking idea - keep children talking when you are in a bathroom. If the toilet has a gap under the door and you are inside, ask to see their shoes.
Give them something to do. e.g. ask them to read to you from a book, tell you where they want to go later, or for older children, give them a map and ask them to call out details of attractions or instructions for a computer.
No comments:
Post a Comment