| Child Holiday Swimming Pool Safety |
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 By Peter Cornall, head of leisure safety at the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents (RoSPA)After a long, hard winter, many families will be turning their attention to planning a holiday. Millions of Britons jet off to sunnier climes each year, with half-term, Easter and winter breaks becoming increasingly popular in addition to the traditional summer holiday. Of course, holidays do not organise themselves and many hours are often spent poring over brochures, scouring the internet or talking to travel agents in search of the perfect destination.  Choosing the right location and mix of activities for your family is key to ensuring that everyone has a good time. It is also important that your chosen accommodation suits your family, and this is particularly true when it comes to somewhere with a swimming pool. There were 42 children who drowned aged under 10-years-old from 2000-2009. Helping parents and guardians understand how these tragedies happened, and offering some simple advice to consider before and during a holiday will hopefully go some way towards saving young lives in the future.  Key facts behind holiday drownings A child who is drowning does not necessarily cry out for help or wave to be rescued. Instead, they disappear under the surface, often unseen and unheard. Because of this, it is easy to understand how children can drown both in busy pools that are crowded with other people and in deserted pools. The 42 holiday swimming pool drownings on which RoSPA has been able to collect information were spread across different types of accommodation:
Under-fours were the victims in more than half of the incidents. In many cases in which a toddler was involved, the child had wandered away from its parents and fallen into an unsupervised pool. This commonly occurs during the first or last day of the holiday, typically when parents are busy checking in or leaving the hotel and the children are told to entertain themselves within the complex. For four and five-year-olds, some drownings happened after the child was last seen playing in or near to water. In many of these cases, parents were unaware of the problem until the child was found in the water, which, most commonly, was a hotel pool. In all of the drownings involving six to nine-year-olds, the child had been swimming.  LifeguardsThe UK has high lifeguarding standards and you may find that such standards differ abroad. Although with the introduction of a new European Standard steps are being taken to have a uniformed approach to safety across the continent. This isn’t to say however that all situations and facilities will be the same. If you are staying in a hotel or apartment complex with a pool, bear in mind that a lifeguard may not be on duty. Even if there is a “lifeguard”, remember that their role may be combined with other duties. Some will be employed as pool attendants who give out towels and ensure the pool area is clean. Their main response is usually after an incident has happened, whereas a UK lifeguard’s main role is focused on preventing incidents from happening in the first place. If you are staying in a holiday villa or a private home, you will need to act as the lifeguard. In some of the cases in which drownings have occurred in these locations, a child has gone outside without their parents’ knowledge and then ended up in the pool. Because you cannot be awake and supervising your children at all times, consider booking a villa only if it has pool safety fencing. Before you travel The booking process is the best time to find out as much as you can about potential holiday destinations:
And, if you have never learned first aid (including how to resuscitate a child), why not investigate local training courses. When you are on holiday If you have done your research before travelling, you shouldn’t find any swimming pool surprises waiting for you at your destination. But when you arrive, do take some time to check out the pool layout, including familiarising yourself with the depth of the water, any potentially hazardous decorative features such as rocks, and the location of emergency rescue equipment. Some other points to consider:
Holidays are great opportunities for children to get out and experience the world around them. This is an important part of growing up, and not only helps children have fun and stay active but means that they also learn about the risks they might encounter throughout life. Bumps and bruises are to be expected and should not unduly concern parents, but there are steps that can be taken to prevent the more serious accidents, including drownings. Thinking about the swimming pool options before you travel should enable you to choose a destination that is both fun and safe for your family. See www.rospa.com/LeisureSafety/ for more leisure safety tips from RoSPA. IN BRIEF
There have been a number of high-profile drownings of British children and adults in the sea at holiday resorts in recent years. As with swimming pools, RoSPA’s advice is to get as much information as you can about your chosen destination before or when booking your holiday. Ask where the safest swimming spots are and if conditions will be safe when you are staying there. Enquire about whether lifeguards are on duty on the beaches, and ask if there are any beaches that should be avoided for swimming because of dangerous currents. Ensure that you know what the flags mean, both here in the UK and abroad – they do not all mean the same thing. See www.rospa.com/LeisureSafety/AdviceAndInformation/WaterSafety/beach-flags.aspx for the UK flags. Double check with your rep, hotel manager or local people when you arrive to be sure you know where the safer bathing spots are. Read beach information and swimming pool signs and act according to the information provided. Be particularly wary when holidaying during the off season because there are less likely to be lifeguards on duty and bathing conditions may be quite different at peak times. |
