June 25, 2009
/24-7PressRelease/ --
Take Caution to Avoid Swimming Pool Accidents
Article provided by Drazin and Warshaw P.C.
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With warm weather upon us, many people, especially children, are enjoying time at the pool, swimming and playing games. Unfortunately, swimming pools, while providing summer fun, also come with a risk of drowning and other accidents. According to data released in May 2009 by the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC), about 300 children under the age of five drown in pools and spas each year and roughly 3,000 suffer injuries that require emergency room visits in pool or spa-related accidents. About 80 percent of drowning deaths occur in residential settings.
Many child drowning incidents occur during momentary lapses in adult supervision, such as when a toddler who can't swim wanders outside to the pool area and falls in. It is crucial for people who own pools to take steps to reduce the risk of drowning. The CPSC recommends fencing in the pool with self-latching gates and/or using pool covers or alarms on doors that lead to the pool. It is also critical that children are supervised at all times when they are in or around a pool.
Children are also susceptible to getting caught in pool drains. If a pool drain has a broken cover or is missing a cover, hair, clothing or body parts can become trapped. Between 1999 and 2008, 83 entrapment incidents were reported to the CPSC. Entrapment incidents can result in horrible injuries such as disembowelment. As a way to protect children from this danger, the federal Pool and Spa Safety Act, which went into effect in December 2008, requires that public pools and spas have anti-entrapment drain covers.
Unfortunately, teenagers and adults can be injured in pool-related accidents as well. Friends may be horsing around when one falls and hits his or her head on the side of a pool. In addition, alcohol may play a role in teen and adult drowning accidents. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), about one-half of adult and adolescent deaths in water-recreation accidents involve alcohol use. Increasing the danger even more, the effects of alcohol on coordination and judgment can increase with heat and sun.
Swimming pool accidents can result in serious head, neck and back injuries, paraplegia, quadriplegia and death. A nonfatal drowning can result in brain damage that can cause learning disabilities, memory loss or permanent loss of bodily functions, and may leave the victim in a permanent vegetative state. A personal injury lawyer can counsel those who have been injured in pool accidents and their families about potential sources of compensation.
Article provided by Drazin and Warshaw P.C.
Visit us at
www.drazinandwarshaw.com/---
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