A child is roughly 100 times more likely to be killed by a swimming pool than a firearm. (Source: Freakonomics, 2005)

You would be mortified if you saw a gun left on a kitchen counter in a house with toddlers scampering about. Why don’t you have the same reaction when you see an unprotected pool, since we know the pool is a much bigger threat?

In 2007, nearly 700 children fatally drown. For every child who dies from drowning, another four children are sent to the ER for nonfatal submersion injuries, many becoming permanently disabled. (Source: CDC)

How does it happen?

69% of fatal drowning incidents occur while one or both parents were responsible for supervising the child. Many of these are good, loving parents – like your friends, like your neighbors, like you.

77% of these children had been seen five minutes before being found in the pool. 46% were last seen IN THE HOUSE. (Source: Consumer Product Safety Commission)

Children drown quickly and silently.

What can you do?

Parent supervision is the most important step, but it can and does fail. No one can watch an active toddler every moment of every day. The annoying neighbor rings the door bell to borrow milk (again), your burning dinner sets the fire alarm off, your seven year old runs inside with a bloody nose, you drop a frozen pork chop on your toe – distractions happen. It only takes minutes for your life to be turned upside down forever.

The solution is to implement layers of protection. In addition to active parent supervision, Life Saver Systems recommends:

1. High locks and alarms on all doors and windows with pool access.
2. A pool safety fence isolating the pool from the home and all access points.
3. Alarms both in the pool and worn on the child.
4. Water survival training as soon as the child is crawling.
5. CPR and rescue techniques – your final layer of defense.

The more layers you have, the safer your pool area. If there is a lapse in supervision, for whatever reason, all must fail before a drowning can occur.

Pool Safety Fencing

Pool safety fencing is the only layer of protection that provides a physical barrier between your home and the pool. A pool fence is a must. If you wouldn’t own a car without seat belts, do not own a pool without a fence. Pool fences should be at least 4 feet high and have a self-closing, self-latching gate that opens away from the pool. Removable safety fencing has proven, over the past forty years, to be the most practical and effective barrier against pool drowning short of putting up a permanent rail fence. Life Saver Systems has manufactured the highest quality mesh pool safety fencing for over 25 years. Pool fence constructed of see-through mesh is not only more aesthetically pleasing, but allows increased visibility for additional safety.

What can you do right now?

Far more children die each year from drowning than from the heavily publicized H1N1 “swine” flu, but pool safety receives a tiny fraction of the media coverage in comparison. This web site can help change that. Share it with your friends, family, on your Facebook, your Twitter, by email… everywhere. Pool safety education saves lives. You never know whose life you might save just by sharing this article right now.

The National Drowning Prevention Alliance has partnered with Life Saver Pool Fence to donate free pool safety barriers to families to fence backyard swimming pools. 

FORT LAUDERDALE, FLORIDA, May 15, 2012—Child safety experts agree that one of the best ways to protect toddlers from drowning is to surround residential swimming pools with a fence that isolates the pool from the house. But many families are not aware of the dangers of not installing a barrier to prevent their children’s unsupervised access to the pool—a situation that, too often, leads to tragedy.

That’s why the National Drowning Prevention Alliance (NDPA) teamed up with Life Saver Pool Fence Systems, Inc. (Life Saver) on National Water Safety Day, May 15^th, to promote the Save a Life Program. The initiative will provide free pool fences to families whose child suffered a non-fatal submersion injury or to families who lost a child to drowning, but still have another child in the home. Through the program, Life Saver will donate free pool fencing and installation each time a system is sold. The NDPA will help find and select appropriate recipients while simultaneously promoting pool safety education.

“This is an ambitious program in which the NDPA and Life Saver hope to donate several pool fences each month,” says Eric Lupton, president of Life Saver Systems, a manufacturer of mesh pool safety fencing.  “Backyard swimming pools are taking young lives at an alarming rate. We need to think of pools the same way we think of other dangers. If you wouldn’t own a car without seat belts, you shouldn’t own a pool without a safety fence.” He adds that while getting pool fences around backyard pools is the program’s primary goal, increasing public awareness about the importance of all pool safety steps is equally important.

“Drowning is preventable if you identify the risk and take steps to minimize it,” says Kim Burgess, National Drowning Prevention Alliance executive director. “That’s why we promote the Safer 3 message. For Safer Water, prevent unsupervised access to pools and spas by installing four-sided isolation fencing, door alarms or automatic safety covers. For Safer Kids, always designate a ‘Water Watcher’ who will remain vigilant and undistracted while supervising children in or near water. Also give children water safety and learn to swim lessons. For Safer Response know how to perform CPR and have a phone and rescue equipment by the pool.”

Life Safer Pool Fence Systems, Inc. is a Campaign Safety Leader with the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission’s Pool Safely campaign.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reports that fatal drowning remains the second-leading cause of unintentional injury-related death for children ages 1 to 14. Children ages 1 to 4 have the highest drowning rates. For every child who dies from drowning, another four receive emergency department care for nonfatal submersion injuries. More than half of submersion-injured children require higher levels of care; many sustain permanent, profound brain damage.

For more information visit www.poolfence.com and www.ndpa.org.

- # -

This is a swimming pool.

Which of these is more dangerous to a child?

If you said the gun, you are about to be surprised.

A child is roughly 100 times more likely to be killed by a swimming pool than a firearm. (Source: Freakonomics, 2005)

You would be mortified if you saw a gun left on a kitchen counter in a house with toddlers scampering about. Why don’t you have the same reaction when you see an unprotected pool, since we know the pool is a much bigger threat?

In 2007, nearly 700 children fatally drown. For every child who dies from drowning, another four children are sent to the ER for nonfatal submersion injuries, many becoming permanently disabled. (Source: CDC)

How does it happen?

69% of fatal drowning incidents occur while one or both parents were responsible for supervising the child. Many of these are good, loving parents – like your friends, like your neighbors, like you.

77% of these children had been seen five minutes before being found in the pool. 46% were last seen IN THE HOUSE. (Source: Consumer Product Safety Commission)

Children drown quickly and silently.

What can you do?

Parent supervision is the most important step, but it can and does fail. No one can watch an active toddler every moment of every day. The annoying neighbor rings the door bell to borrow milk (again), your burning dinner sets the fire alarm off, your seven year old runs inside with a bloody nose, you drop a frozen pork chop on your toe – distractions happen. It only takes minutes for your life to be turned upside down forever.

The solution is to implement layers of protection. In addition to active parent supervision, Life Saver Systems recommends:

1. High locks and alarms on all doors and windows with pool access.
2. A pool safety fence isolating the pool from the home and all access points.
3. Alarms both in the pool and worn on the child.
4. Water survival training as soon as the child is crawling.
5. CPR and rescue techniques – your final layer of defense.

The more layers you have, the safer your pool area. If there is a lapse in supervision, for whatever reason, all must fail before a drowning can occur.

Pool Safety Fencing

Pool safety fencing is the only layer of protection that provides a physical barrier between your home and the pool. A pool fence is a must. If you wouldn’t own a car without seat belts, do not own a pool without a fence. Pool fences should be at least 4 feet high and have a self-closing, self-latching gate that opens away from the pool. Removable safety fencing has proven, over the past forty years, to be the most practical and effective barrier against pool drowning short of putting up a permanent rail fence. Life Saver Systems has manufactured the highest quality mesh pool safety fencing for over 25 years. Pool fence constructed of see-through mesh is not only more aesthetically pleasing, but allows increased visibility for additional safety.

What can you do right now?

Far more children die each year from drowning than from the heavily publicized H1N1 “swine” flu, but pool safety receives a tiny fraction of the media coverage in comparison. This web site can help change that. Share it with your friends, family, on your Facebook, your Twitter, by email… everywhere. Pool safety education saves lives. You never know whose life you might save just by sharing this article right now.

Night stands with lamps, radios, an electric clock, a remote phone base, answering machine maybe, extension cords running here and there for all this electrical equipment. Throw in a waterbed with its controls, maybe a computer and entertainment center, now there are more extension cords; multiple outlet adapters barely hanging in the outlet behind your bed or night stand because of the weight from the six cords plugged into it? A firefighter’s nightmare.

If this describes your bedroom, call yourself and spouse very normal American adults (before children).

We’ll get into some solutions; but let’s first see what else might be there that could possibly lead to problems for a toddler; couple of bi-fold doors to smash little fingers - closets with plastic dry cleaning bags hanging to the floor - vertical draw cords that reach to the floor – unprotected outlets – in use (with something plugged in) – tall floor lamps with heavy or glass tops that can be pulled over – maybe a wobbly bookcase or TV stand with a cable box and hanging cords for swinging on – sliding glass doors leading to a pool area – heavy dresser drawers that pull all the way out – potted plants on unsteady stands.

All of these items are reasonably safe; for adults!

Since your bedroom and bathroom have both been very personal areas in your home, you would think nothing of where you put jewelry, medications, make-up, etc. If your child is advancing rapidly, it seems that in a matter of days he has gone from just creeping and rocking to crawling, pulling up, toddling around, and reaching places that used to be out-of-reach. You have started into the “put up” game and your personal effects start moving up higher and higher to keep them away from little grabbing hands. After all, jewelry and make-up are made for eating, not wearing; at least, that’s what the view is from down there.

The night stand: organize your electrical devices so that all the cords go to the back of your night stand. If you have more items to plug in than outlet space available (as in two), use a properly grounded electrical strip (most models come with a circuit breaker in case you overload the system and will accommodate either four or six plugs) – part of the problem solved. You may need to push your night stand flush back against the wall or fabricate or devise a simple spacer that will keep all these cords from being pulled on if your night stand will not go back far enough against the wall.

Bi-fold doors - brass bar catches you can install where the door splits make attractive barriers to him banging these doors open and inevitably smashing a few fingers in the process as well. Non-permanent sliding plastic bars are also made to keep the doors from opening at the break. Unfortunately, this type of sliding bar mounts at the top of the door and can be inconvenient to use. Using a hook and eye to latch two double bi-fold doors together will keep him out but will not effectively keep each individual door from opening at the break and smashing a little finger.

Vertical blind draw cords – look out here; these pose a strangulation threat, especially if he is just starting to crawl or beginning to pull up and toddle. The cords make natural nooses should he become entangled and fall. Draw strings for mini-blinds should be looped up and fastened far above your toddlers reach or split in half at the bottom and attached with a break a way device.

In-use or dormant electrical outlets - as with other areas of your home cover the dormant outlets (those which do not have anything plugged in) with covers that are self-closing; many of the popular plugs that we’ve seen inserted in dormant electrical outlets pose choke hazards, he can get them out if interested (even if you cannot), five minutes today – a few minutes next week – whatever, your child does not have the need to pull the plug out in a few seconds so he can plug something in as you are trying to do. There are a number of good dormant outlet covers on the market which close automatically. One of our favorites is manufactured by Fisher-Price, an effective slide that is automatic and decorative. This childproofing device actually improves the looks of an outlet.

The most common item a child will stick into an electrical outlet is a key. Why?  They are imitating you. Who’s on your hip when you unlock the front door or looking over when you start the car? Ah, gotta key, what looks like a good place to put it like mom does?

More important is that you protect your in-use electrical outlets, those where something always remains plugged in and is within your child’s reach. This represents a much more serious hazard than an dormant outlet socket because you have already provided a path for electricity by plugging in an appliance; a plug pulled half way out is still conducting electricity and leaves sufficient room for your child to stick her finger on the bare part of the plug prong. Use protective cover boxes that your toddler cannot open; if you’re plugging in large adapters like a nursery monitor, use a cover box large enough to accommodate this; if you move the monitor around from room to room, be sure there is a box where you will be taking it as well. Almost all the brands we have tested and used provided an acceptable level of effectiveness. With the number of choices available, look for practicality as well as safety here.

Lamps, bookcases, tall stands, wobbly TV stands - secure them, rearrange items to provide barriers, store them for a few years (if you are planning on having more children; quite a few years), or just replace the item with something more practical for your new lifestyle.

Extension cords are dangerous - a child mouthing the end of a plugged in extension cord (even with the little covers in place) is headed for a severe, scaring burn. If you have to use them, try tucking the cord out of sight or at least wrapping the connecting point with electrical tape.

For standard door openings under 42″ there are a number of expansion style gates which are held in place by pressure. Check for ease of operation, some of these gates can be a real pain to use and are borderline junk.

We often recommend the Center Gateway by KidCo.

All electrical outlets within reach need to be covered properly; especially the in-use outlets (refer back to the MASTER BEDROOM for more details on outlet covers). Self-closing outlet cover plates (not the little stick-in plug caps) need to be in place over dormant outlets.

You can see a few choices at pretty good prices by clicking here.

Vertical cords and curtain draw strings warrant your attention (refer back to the MASTER BEDROOM), particularly on windows with furniture close enough to allow climbing on a sill.

Breakable items should be removed from low shelves and accessible areas until your child can be trusted not to touch these. Just saying NO to most children is not a substitute for putting your more breakable or precious items out of reach. If you do not and it is broken it is your fault, NOT your child’s! Not all children are the same, even in the same household. Some will not touch, most will, if given the opportunity. We all love the mom who looks disdainfully at someone else’s twelve month old toddler and says something like “Can’t you teach that child not to touch, I did mine.” We love her all the more when she has her next child and life becomes hell on Earth at her household. You can provide guidance for your toddler, but as we all know, they are going to do basically as they please unless physically restricted. Not much reasoning with a one year old.

Decorative glass or metal items left within reach of a toddler make excellent weapons against windows, your television, glass top tables, your friend’s toddler, etc.

Check for any dangling cords from lamps, appliances, or telephone cords. Most of these can be wrapped up neatly with wind-up cord shorteners or stuffed behind a piece of furniture out of reach.

Lamps on tables can have their cords secured to the table with cord guards. These are very effective in keeping the lamp from being pulled off a high table by the cord. In-use electrical outlet cover boxes should be in place to keep him from touching partially exposed plug prongs.

Top heavy glass or metal lamps on low tables require close supervision. If he starts pulling on these, move them out of reach for a while. Free standing lamps present problems if they can be pushed over into a window, sliding glass door, pulled over onto a glass table or other piece of furniture. Most are not heavy enough to injure a child (unless it is a friend standing where the lamp is going to land when pulled over), but the bulb can very easily be broken from the impact and scatter nice little bits of sharp glass you can collect for a few days.

Check out any book shelves. Are they sturdy? Secured to the wall? Could a toddler climb them? Would the shelf fall over if it was climbed on to its highest point?

Keep dining room, kitchen and desk chairs pushed all the way in under the table. Look around for other staging platforms that your toddler might take advantage of in an effort to gain a different view of his world.

Sharp corners and edges on furniture can be protected with great difficulty by installing cushions made for this purpose. Be sure if you use a manufactured brand of corner cushion that they are secure and your toddler will not be able to pull them off and possibly choke. For pieces of furniture that you do not wish to move and cannot protect with any items on the market; use some type of padding (cloth diapers, split tennis balls) secured with duct tape. White plumbing insulation split in half works well on some items. Sometimes a simple quilt over the table top will provide the protection you are looking for. All these suggestions are hideous from a decorating stand point, oh well.

You can find decent looking protectors for sharp corners to buy by clicking here. The same company makes a neat cushion that guards edges and corners. You can see it by clicking here.

Glass curio cabinets should be monitored carefully along with other types of glass furniture. You may want to consider storing these types of pieces until you have gained more control over your home again. Security window film (similar to what is used on jewelry store and bank windows) is available to keep glass from shattering if it should be broken.

Pay attention to what you and guests put down on low tables. Hot beverages can scald or burn a child’s skin and mouth. Some printed materials contain coatings and inks that can be toxic if ingested in quantity. Both of these items are common on low tables. Be careful.

Again, do not rely on NO as your only layer of protection. A child is not responsible at twelve months old. If something is broken or he gets hurt because you thought that NO was sufficient and he would remember this warning or even understand; only you are to blame, not the child.

Verify that those house plants within reach are not of a toxic variety or poisonous, many are. Besides dangers and discomforts that can be experienced from eating toxic varieties of plants, all low plants represent a very real choke hazard if eaten. Put these plants (even the silk) up temporarily until your toddler can be taught (actually when he decides not to is more accurate) not to eat everything at hand.

Check whether or not larger potted plants or small trees can be pulled over. Most are very heavy and will stay in place. Dirt and base trim will probably be distributed equally across your floor and in his mouth if within reach.

Fortunate enough to have a private retreat in your home like a study, office, or sewing room? Keep it that way! Designate this as your domain and make sure that it is barricaded and totally off limits. It will remain “private” even when it seems you have lost control of the rest of the house. Loose paper clips, staples, office waste, and pins can be tough items to keep up with. They find their way to a crawling baby’s mouth with incredible speed and accuracy (much more accurate than with food). If you drop it, he will find it before you do!

Patio screens can be protected with screen grills or metal mesh on lower panels designed for this purpose. Solid barriers like Plexiglas or standard sheet metal screen protectors can cut down drastically on ventilation making your patio area unbearable at a toddler’s level in the summer. Do not forget to have high locks installed on screen doors.

For living areas with access to a swimming pool refer to the section on pools for more information.

Eventually a high deadbolt lock will be required on your front door to keep him in. An alarm system that can be programmed to beep inside the home when perimeter doors are opened will give a third layer of protection against him leaving your domain on his own.

Door knob covers are an inexpensive alternative that might prove to be effective in keeping him from opening doors to off limits areas until about age three, but only if they will work on your knobs properly. Get used to opening doors for visitors if you use this type of slip knob cover.

These following blog entries published with the thought that the best defense against common household accidents involving young children is intelligent prevention with a planned and instituted program of child safety. Before a program can be instituted there must be an understanding of what represents a danger to a young child.

Ordinary household items can be very hazardous to young children. Even with the best supervision, their ability to get themselves into trouble is uncanny. Once a child is up and moving around, his world expands rapidly. Your task is to be aware of what potentially dangerous situations he could get into long before they can happen. If this is not your first child, do not assume that he will not do one thing or another just because other children did not. This can actually put an experienced parent at a disadvantage. Lucky once does not necessarily make you lucky twice.

Accident prevention and safety awareness are skills that need practice, sort of like a sixth sense for danger.

Most children will learn safety from their mothers. It is your attitude on safety and how you react to situations that will influence your children for the rest of their lives. This attitude will determine how they regard their own safety and that of others around them.

Mothers are often torn between keeping a baby safe (for example, by limiting his area to a playpen) or allowing him to explore with more freedom. Obviously a child cannot be confined forever. With your awareness of potential dangers that exist in your home, a few safeguards, and good supervision, your little person can begin to expand his world, making new discoveries all the time.

The responsibility of the primary caretaker in the home produces a stress unlike any other job. A good safety awareness program can add the necessary confidence needed to let your child explore without needless interruptions for a NO-NO and help get him through this wonderful age of curiosity, experimentation, and daily adventure without the havoc contributed by unnecessary accidents.

As you read, keep in mind that there are no “cure alls” for accidents. Some accidents will still happen no matter how hard you work at avoiding them. Minor injuries are a part of learning and a result of your child’s exposure to the world around him.

A child must, however, be taught what is an acceptable level of risk and what is not. A simple example is learning to walk and run. There is an acceptable level of risk involved in this learning process and you should expect the associated bumps and bruises from falling. This risk of minor injury is part of the price we pay for learning to become mobile. However, running through the house near furniture with sharp corners or on a slippery surface around the pool present risks of a much more serious nature without any benefit to be gained — unacceptable!

Your education along with firm guidance in your child’s education are the keys to accident prevention and safe living.

Providing for your children and enjoying their very presence is what we have come to feel are the most generous rewards life gives us. This joy can also be your most devastating pain if all is not well.

You cannot be sold on living safely and we certainly don’t need anymore laws. It is a personal decision and preference, just like wearing a seat belt while driving a car. You determine and set what are acceptable risks in almost everything you do each day. Choose wisely — someone else is depending on you.

A child falls in to a swimming pool and is airlifted to the hospital for urgent medical care. The child survives, and we breathe a sigh of relief. But what really happens when a child survives a non-fatal drowning? Lesia Crawford tells the story of her brother Andrew Hill, who survived after he fell into a swimming pool more than 20 years ago.

When you buy a pool fence, we donate fencing to a near-drowning victim’s family.

On Thursday, March 10, 2011, the Save a Life Program really came alive as Life Saver donated its first pool fence under the program. And the family couldn’t have been more deserving of a free pool fence.

On February 21st, Genesis Franco, 2 years old, fell into the pool while her parents and older sister were home. Tiffany Repecki of the Cape Coral Breeze reports:

Genesis was playing on the lanai when she fell into the pool, her mother said.

“She just fell,” Franco said.

“Everything happened so fast,” she added. “It was an accident.”

Carlos Franco jumped in the pool and pulled Genesis out. The child was not conscious and was not breathing, according to the police report. As Carlos began to perform CPR on Genesis, Franco called 911. Medics soon arrived.

“They showed up really quick,” she said.

Genesis was transported to the hospital, where she remained Friday.

“She’s still hanging in there,” Franco said, adding that the family has faith that Genesis will be OK.

“We are strong believers. We believe in the power of Jesus Christ,” she said. “We’ve been praying, we’ve been fasting for her. I know he’s going to do it.”

As of this writing, Genesis remains in the hospital.

As soon as I read this story, I knew this was the exact situation the Save a Life Program was created for. The scenario in this near-drowning is by far the most common: the parents were home, and the child was thought to be away from the pool.

I called Genesis’s mother, Carolina, and told her that I had read about her daughter in the news, and wanted to install a pool fence around her pool. To put it lightly, she was overwhelmed, and couldn’t believe that we were offering a pool fence for free. We had a few conversations over the next few days — about her family, her pool, but mostly about Genesis and her recovery — and we setup a date and time to install their new pool fence.

Life Saver Pool Fence of Naples (a division of Fabri-Tech, Inc.), headed by Danny Mitchell, was our closest distributor to the Francos. Despite being fully booked, Danny was incredibly accommodating and rearranged his schedule to book the installation just two days after we spoke. Despite some really terrible weather, Danny and his team did a fantastic job installing the Life Saver Pool Fence, completely free of charge. Danny and his team donated an entire day’s worth of work to the Franco family and their safety, and they ought to be highly commended. You can see from the pictures that they did a top-notch job. You can also see that the mesh is wet, which reduces transparency, and shows that all the hard work was done during the pouring rain.

We will continue to keep you updated on Genesis’s condition, and hope to get you some pictures of the Franco family with their brand new Life Saver Pool Fence.

This pool fence donation was made possible by:

Ray Morris (Fort Worth, TX)
Chris Badurina (Harrison, NY)
Jen Chaturvedi (Maricopa, AZ)