CPSC Study Reveals Troubling Backyard Pool Death Statistics
According to a study released by the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC), children younger than 5-years-old account for more than 75% of all spa and pool deaths and nearly 80% of spa and pool injuries in the United States. Kiley Law Group, LLC child injury attorneys believe the number of injuries and deaths resulting from recreational swimming can be decreased through the distribution of safety information and swimming lessons for very young children.
Andover, Massachusetts (PRWEB) July 23, 2013
According to a study released by the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC)(May 22, 2013), children younger than 5-years-old account for more than 75% of all spa and pool deaths and nearly 80% of spa and pool injuries in the United States. Kiley Law Group, LLC child injury attorneys believe the number of injuries and deaths resulting from recreational swimming can be decreased through the distribution of safety information and swimming lessons for very young children.
According to the data, pools and spas at residential locations accounted for 85% of fatalities involving children 5-years-old and younger. The study also found that 67% of fatalities and 64 percent of injuries were suffered by children between the ages of 1 and 3. A race comparison found that African American children are six times more likely to drown than Hispanic and white children between the ages of 5 and 19.
Tom Kiley Sr., head partner at Kiley Law Group, LLC, has provided Massachusetts children and their families with legal assistance for several decades. “Every summer we are hit with the unfortunate reality that several Massachusetts private and public pools are not properly fitted to provide adequate protection for small children. Many parents are unaware that drowning is the leading cause of unintentional death for children between the ages of 1 and 4, but those are the facts and we as a society have an obligation to spread this information and get it into the right hands. We believe that if parents are fully aware of the dangers associated with pools and spas, they would make a strong effort to provide a safer experience.
“We provide a number of different resources for parents to help protect their children from dangers such as drowning, car accidents, slip and falls, and firework-related injuries and deaths, but we believe our swimming pool safety guidelines to be an especially valuable resource. Many of the suggestions that we offer do not cost any money to implement and can be very instrumental in saving children’s lives under certain circumstances,” said Attorney Kiley.
The CPSC reports an average of 390 spa or pool-related drownings and 5,100 emergency department treated pool or spa-related injuries for children under the age of 15 on any given year. Pool safety precautions recommended by Kiley Law Group, LLC include teaching children how to swim, ever-present adult supervision during child swimming activities, the use of pool safety gates and alarm systems as well as a working knowledge of CPR amongst supervising adults.
Resources: http://www.prweb.com/releases/2013/7/prweb10953045.htm