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Water Fountains News Center > Yvonne Jeffery, For the Calgary Herald
Yvonne Jeffery, For the Calgary Herald
 Yvonne
Jeffery, For the Calgary Herald
Published: Saturday, July 08, 2006
From in-ground swimming pools to decorative garden fountains, water
is cool and inviting on a summer day.
To keep it fun, safety experts issue a plea that we balance good
times with risk management. Good sense, they advise, saves lives.
"Ponds and pools can be just as dangerous as bathtubs and
the Bow River," says John Conley, public information officer
for the Calgary Fire Department.
"You childproof your house and you should childproof your
backyard as well."
According to the Lifesaving Society, which certifies all lifeguards
in Canada, drowning can take as little as 10 seconds and can happen
in just a few centimetres of water.
"When we look at preschool drownings, more than 85 per cent
are a supervision failure," says Larry Patterson, the society's
technical director, emphasizing that leaving even for a few seconds
to answer the phone isn't safe.
"We don't realize how easy it is to get distracted. Especially
when you're dealing with small children, if you're not within arm's
reach, you've gone too far. Literally, you need to be able to reach
out and touch them."
"Just because a child can swim or they have an inflatable
device or they're just in the backyard doesn't mean they're safe,"
agrees Clara Reinhardt, water safety spokesperson for the Canadian
Red Cross's southern Alberta branch. According to a Red Cross study,
children aged one to four are among those at greatest risk of drowning,
with backyard pools proving especially dangerous for this age group.
"A parent is a child's lifeguard," she emphasizes.
For older kids and adults, Patterson says, the equivalent of arm's-reach
is the buddy system. "The whole idea of a buddy system is that
you actually have someone that you're paying attention to and who's
paying attention to you," he says.
And keep alcohol out of the mix. "We've found in Alberta that
in up to 60 per cent of adult-related (drowning) deaths, alcohol
is a factor," he explains.
"The people in supervision roles should just stay away from
the alcohol. Once you start having a few drinks, that means swimming
is over."
Playing it safe
Because you can't supervise ponds and pools 24 hours a day, it's
essential to limit access to them. "The Alberta Building Code
requires that a pool has a six-foot fence around it and a locking,
self-latching gate, and that's really, really crucial," Patterson
says.
Decorative ponds and fountains should be placed within a fenced
yard and designed so the fountain's reservoir, for example, is below
a locked cover or ornamental grate.
Avoid chain-link fencing (which lends itself to being climbed),
and ensure covers for pools and hot tubs are completely closed so
they can't trap anyone underneath.
"Some of the pools can create hazards that people aren't aware
of," adds Patterson.
"We're seeing inflatable pools that people can buy this afternoon
and have set up this evening, and they're four feet deep, which
is really quite dangerous."
Some of these are missing critical safety features, he says. People
often don't realize that (these pools) need to be fenced off and
some styles incorporate water-circulating pumps with a vacuum outlet
that creates an entrapment hazard -- it could suck hair into the
pipe, trapping a child under the water.
Toys such as inflatable slides should also be used with care. "By
all means, they're good fun -- but they have to be supervised,"
Conley notes. He says it's essential to follow the manufacturer's
instructions for installation and inflation, and to use the slides
appropriately.
Conley also emphasizes the value of learning to swim. "Swimming,
even at a basic level, is a life skill -- even just the basic lifesaving
skill has huge value," he says.
The Lifesaving Society has developed a Swim to Survive program
that teaches three essential skills for drowning prevention: rolling
into deeper water to learn to orient oneself; treading water for
one minute; then swimming (any style) for 50 metres, to reach safety.
Local swimming pools may offer both this and Red Cross water safety
programs.
"We recognize that life comes with risks," says Patterson.
"The whole idea is about making this fun and just balancing
and managing the risks."
Resources
- Canadian Red Cross: www.redcross.ca
- City of Calgary: www.calgary.ca
- Lifesaving Society: www.lifesaving.org
Backyard pool safety tips
- Have safety equipment on hand -- first-aid kit, telephone, reaching
assist (shepherd's hook) and throwing assist (ring buoy) -- and
practice using it.
- Get trained in water safety, first-aid and CPR.
- Ensure fencing is at least 1.8 metres high, surrounds the pool
(not using the house as part of the enclosure) and has self-latching,
self-closing gates.
- Empty smaller pools when not in use.
- Discourage diving and horseplay.
- Store chemicals in clearly labelled, childproof containers, out
of children's reach (preferably locked away).
- Don't use glass around pools.
- Never use toys such as water wings to replace supervision.
- Use lifejackets for people who can't swim.
- Avoid sunburn and overheating.
- Set pool rules and enforce them.
-- Canadian Red Cross
© The Calgary Herald 2006
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