Water Safety Tips
Constant Adult Supervision
Always watch children when they’re in or near water, and never leave them unattended. Designate an official Water Watcher, an adult tasked with supervising children in the water. Even if a lifeguard is present, parents and caregivers should still take the responsibility of designating a Water Watcher. That should be their only task – they shouldn’t be reading, texting or playing games on their phone. Often times, drowning is not a LACK of adult supervision, but a LAPSE of adult supervision...a drowning can happen in a matter of seconds.
Learn to Swim
Learning to swim can be a life-saving skill, but it does not make a child drown-proof. Fatal and non-fatal drownings are 8x more likely to happen to children who don't know how to swim.
Learn More About Our Lessons
Wear a Life Vest
Use a U.S. Coast Guard approved life vest and adjust it for the proper fit. Air-filled or foam toys like "water wings" and "noodles" are not designated to keep swimmers safe. This also applies when on boating. More than 2/3's of all boating fatalities are drowning incidents and 90% of drowning victims were not wearing a life jacket.
Learn More About Life Vests
Learn to Swim
Learning to swim can be a life-saving skill, but it does not make a child drown-proof. However, children who take swimming lessons are 88% less likely to drown than children who do not.
Learn More About Our Lessons
Constant Adult Supervision
Always watch children when they’re in or near water, and never leave them unattended. Designate an official Water Watcher, an adult tasked with supervising children in the water. Even if a lifeguard is present, parents and caregivers should still take the responsibility of designating a Water Watcher. That should be their only task – they shouldn’t be reading, texting or playing games on their phone. Often times, drowning is not a LACK of adult supervision, but a LAPSE of adult supervision...a drowning can happen in a matter of seconds.
Wear a Life Vest
Use a U.S. Coast Guard approved life vest and adjust it for the proper fit. Air-filled or foam toys like "water wings" and "noodles" are not designated to keep swimmers safe. This also applies when boating. More than two thirds of all boating fatalities are drowning incidents and 90% of drowning victims were not wearing a life jacket.
Learn More About Life Vests
Install Layers of Protection
CPSC estimates that each year nearly 300 children younger than 5 years old drown in swimming pools and spas (an additional 4,000 children that age go to hospital emergency rooms due to submersion injuries in pools and spas.)
A fence of at least four feet in height should surround the pool or spa on all sides and should not be climbable for children. Install a door alarm from the house to the pool area, and keep pool and spa covers in working order.
Know How to Perform CPR
Knowing how to perform CPR can be the difference between life and death while waiting for emergency personnel to arrive. CPR classes are available through many hospitals and community centers.
Contact the Red Cross About Classes
Water Safety Facts
- Drowning is Preventable.
- Drowning is the #1 cause of accidental death in children ages 1-4.
- Drowning is fast. It only takes seconds. It can happen in the time it takes to text a friend.
- 69% of drownings occur during non-designated swim times.
- Drowning is silent. There are no warning sounds or splashing sounds associated with a drowning accident.
- Knowing how to swim does not make a child drown-proof.
- Children who take swim lessons are 88% less likely to drown than children who do not.
- Fatal and non-fatal drownings are 8x more likely to happen to children who don't know how to swim.
- 9 out of 10 drownings happen when a caregiver is supervising but not paying attention.
- About 10 people die from unintentional drownings every day in the United States.
- Drowning doesn't discriminate. Where there's water, there's drowning. All ages. All races. All places.
- Drownings often occur from a lapse of supervision, not a lack of supervision.
