Water Safety

Water Safety and Drowning Prevention

Water Safety Facts

  • Drowning is the 2nd leading cause of accidental death in the U.S. among children under 14 and leading cause of accidental death for children age 5 and under -American Institute for Preventive Medicine.
  • A child can drown in the time it takes to answer the phone -U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission
  • Of all preschoolers who drown, 70% are in the care of one or both parents and 75% are missing from sight five minutes or less -National Center for Injury Prevention & Control
  • For children under four years of age, a swimming pool is more dangerous than an automobile. In fact, children this age are 14 times as likely to drown in a pool than be killed in a motor vehicle accident. In Louisiana, 30 children less than 15-years old drowned in 1999, and almost half (47%) of those were less than five years of age. -Louisiana Department of Health and Hospitals, Office of Public Health
  • 65% of preschooler drownings occur in the child’s home pool and 33% at the homes of friends, neighbors or relatives -U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC)
  • 46% WERE LAST SEEN IN THE HOUSE prior to being found in the pool. Of these, 15% were thought to be sleeping (CPSC).
  • 23% were last seen in the yard, porch or patio, not in the pool area. That's a total of 69% that were thought not to be in the pool area (CPSC).
  • 39% of the people responsible for supervising the child were doing chores. 18% socializing. 9% were busy on the telephone (CPSC).
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