300 U.S. Children Drown in Pools and Spas Every Year, CPSC Warns

The Consumer Product Safety Commission has just released updated statistics showing nearly 300 children drown and another 3,000 are seriously injured each year in accidents occurring in swimming pools and spas.

Accidents in swimming pools and spas are a leading cause of children’s injuries. Children may become trapped in drains, under pool covers, or strike their heads on the bottom of pools or spas while diving in. Severe head and spinal cord injuries, broken bones, and other injuries have been reported in swimming pool and spa accidents.

According to the CPSC, about two-thirds of pool and spa-related deaths and injuries are suffered by children between the ages of one and two. About 80 percent of fatal drowning accidents occur at pools and spas located at private residences.

Between 1999 and 2008, 83 children were trapped in a pool or spa, according to the CPSC. Of those incidents, 11 children died and 69 were injured. About 14 percent of the reports of entrapment in pools and spas since 1999 were fatal, the commission said.

Late last year, the Pool and Spa Safety Act went into effect and required all public pools and spas in the U.S. to have installed anti-entrapment drain covers. The covers are designed to prevent children from getting hands, feet, toes, or other body parts stuck or sucked into pool drains and drowning or suffering injuries.

To emphasize the importance of pool and spa safety, the CPSC has launched a new website — www.PoolSafety.gov – to provide information about pool safety and the pool safety act.

Most swimming pool and spa drowning accidents can be prevented with proper adult supervision of children while swimming and the use of gates, fencing, and other appropriate barriers to prevent children from unsupervised access to pools, the CPSC said.

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