As summer heats up, portable pools are being blown up and filled in yards across the country, but a new study from The Research Institute at Nationwide Children’s Hospital shows a child drowns in a portable pool every five days. This is the first study of its kind and underscores just how dangerous these inexpensive pools can be.
The study was published on Thursday, June 16, in the journal Pediatrics and found that from 2001 to 2009, 209 children under the age of 12, died in portable backyard pools. Another 35 survived after being submerged. Children under the age of 5 are most at risk. The author of the study reminds us it only takes an inch of water to take a life in a drowning. The study reports a brief lapse in supervision is all it takes to lead to drowning and 40 percent of the children who drowned were being supervised. Even just answering the phone or talking to a neighbor is enough time and unlike in-ground pools, portable pool manufacturers provide no drowning prevention tools such as pool covers or alarms.
An inexpensive above-ground pool installed by parents may not instill the same sense of risk as an in-ground pool and that is the problem. The authors conclude that consumers need to be educated about the inherent risks of these pools and the steps that can be taken to prevent injury and death such as installing a four-foot fence, an alarm and safety covers. Failing to understand the risk is no excuse if a child dies in your backyard. Parents should check with the nonprofit group, Safe Kids, and its campaign for pool safety – “Lock, Look, and Learn.”
Learn all you can about product risks and recalls and if you believe your child has been injured by a toy or device that was intended for their use and may be dangerous and defective, contact the child safety lawyers in Jacksonville at Farah & Farah for a review of your case.
Source: http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/the-checkup/post/portable-pools-pose-dangers-to-kids/2010/12/20/AGPrM7YH_blog.html
