New Study Emphasizes Dangers of Portable Pools
(August 2011) A new report published in the medical journal Pediatrics warns of the danger posed to children by portable pools. Researchers analyzed data from the U.S Consumer Products Safety Commission (CPSC) for 2001 and 2009, counting 209 fatal submersion accidents (drowning) and 35 non-fatal submersion accidents reported to the CPSC in those years.
The study found that 94 percent of the swimming pool accidents involved children under 5 years old, and 73 percent of the accidents happened at the child’s residence. Summer is an especially risky time, as 80 percent of the accidents happened then. According to ABC News, a child dies by drowning in a portable pool an average of every five days.
The lead author of the study, Dr. Gary Smith, director of the Injury Research and Policy Center at Nationwide Children’s Hospital in Ohio, said, “Over the last decade, we’ve seen an increase in the number of people who use portable pools, and in many cases, it’s our impression that parents may not be aware of their risks.”
Portable pools lack many of the safeguards required for in-ground pools such as pool covers, alarms and four-wall childproof fencing. And perhaps because the pools are so small and relatively inexpensive, many parents do not realize that constant vigilance is still necessary when their children are playing in portable pools.
When children are near water, grave accidents can happen in an instant. Therefore, children must be supervised at all times to avoid swimming pool accidents. A recommended safety strategy is to use “touch supervision,” in which a parent or caretaker is close enough to touch the child at all times when he or she is in the water.