Why Drowning Accidents Happen
Drowning accidents account for one of the most common causes of teenage death in the country. For most of the 3,300 drowning victims reported yearly, 25% of them are teenagers or young adults.
Unfortunately, in most drowning accidents involving children, the victims will most likely suffer fatal injuries. Studies show that almost 1,000 children under 16 will drown this year, and another 2,600 who will have to be hospitalized due to drowning-related incidents.
Most drowning accidents occur in swimming pools. The chemicals used to keep the water clean, the hard and slippery surfaces, and the water itself are factors that contribute to swimming pools as being an accident-prone area.
Most of these deaths are easily preventable, but most of the time, carelessness or negligence causes some innocent people to suffer.
Swimming pool drowning may be caused by the following factors:
- improperly built or designed pools
- neglectful supervision
- failure to maintain the pool facilities
Child Drowning Accidents
Children are often likely the victims of drowning incidents. Their lack of skills and their fragile built make children vulnerable to serious injuries that result from drowning accidents.
Drowning may cause serious brain injury in children that may leave them without the ability to experience or interact with the world. In rare cases, it can also cause physical development issues that prevent children from growing and maturing into the adults.
Hence, children cannot be expected to know the dangers associated with pools and drowning and must be left alone in pools unsupervised.
Improper Supervision
In some instances, water accidents like drowning also occur when people who are tasked to supervise, protect, and help swimmers during moments of trouble neglect their duties. When this happens, the consequences are often fatal.
Regardless of whether the accident occurs in a private pool or a public beach, a responsible person must always be assigned to look out for potential accidents or dangers. Otherwise, they can be held liable for injuries that someone may sustain in an accident.
Here are some water safety tips:
- Designate a responsible adult to watch young children while in the bath and all children swimming or playing in or around water.
- Always swim with a buddy
- Do not use air-filled or foam toys, such as “water wings”, “noodles”, or inner-tubes, in place of life jackets (personal flotation devices).
- Select swimming sites that have lifeguards whenever possible.
- Avoid drinking alcohol before or during swimming, boating, or water skiing or while supervising children.
- Learn to swim.
- Learn cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) or first aid techniques.
A claim for damages in a drowning accident must be pursued under the premise liability, which holds a property owner responsible for any injury or harm within the confines of a facility or property.
To better pursue one’s claim, a victim should seek the assistance of a personal injury lawyer knowledgeable in the particular accident he is involved. In this way, a victim has better chances of obtaining the maximum claim for his injuries.
