South Florida Injury Lawyers Blog
Parents need to keep an eye on their children, especially in the state of Florida where we have so many swimming pools! According to the U.S. Consumer Products Safety Commission (CPSC), there were close to 150 children under the age of 15 who drowned in a spa or a pool during the traditional summer season, or the time from Memorial Day through Labor Day. Another 170 young kids required emergency attention for near-death accidents in spas and pools.
“These figures are a strong indication that child drownings are a serious public health problem,” said CPSC Chairman Inez Tenenbaum.
Our Wilton Manors injury lawyers understand that pools in the state of Florida don’t typically ever shut down, meaning that we have year-round risks for these kinds of accidents. It’s important that parents, guardians and other adults keep an eye on their children while they’re playing in or around pools and that we also make sure that we take the proper safety precautions to secure the pool area when we’re not around.
According to media figures, there were close to 55 drownings during the summer that occurred when children left the supervision of an adult. More than 30 of these drownings happened even though there were others at the pool.
It’s the toddlers that we have to worry the most about when it comes to drowning accidents. Every year, at least 100 of the more than 135 kids who drown are under the age of 5. As a matter of fact, drowning is the number one cause of unintentional death among children who are between the ages of 1- and 4-years-old.
Not every one of these accidents is reported by the media, especially in the state of Florida when these accidents are so common. It takes some time for officials with the CPSC to receive reports of all of the drownings that occur across the country. Each May, officials with the CPSC release the stats for drownings and near-drownings. According to the CPSC’s most recent data, there were an average of more than 240 child drownings in pools or spas every year from the 2007 through 2009. The drownings that happen during the summer months account for close to 65 percent of the number of drownings that happen every year.
For 2012, Florida was ranked as one of the top states for child pool or spa drownings. Many of these accidents could have been prevented if parents were on top of their pool-safety game!
There’s an average of close to 400 of these fatal accidents that occur each and every year to kids who are under the age of 15-years-old. In addition to these fatalities, there is another 5,200 of these kids who wind up in an emergency room because of a near-drowning.
Contact the personal injury lawyers at Freeman, Mallard, Sharp & Gonzalez. Call today for a free and confidential consultation to discuss your case. 1-800-561-7777.
More Blog Entries:
Tragic Toddler Death Highlights Risk of Swimming Injuries in West Palm Beach, South Florida Injury Lawyers Blog, July 20, 2012
Swimming Pool Accidents in Palm Beach County and Elsewhere Most Likely to Affect Children
June 3, 2012