We need to learn from other people's mistakes and inattention to safety to help prevent unfortunate accidents like the one that happened to Usher's son this past week. Please read the informative article below and pay special attention to the end where it gives tips on what to do if you find someone stuck on a drain. Remember, this can happen in a pool or a hot tub, at your home, a friends or on vacation.
It only takes a minute of inattention for something tragic to happen and a minute to read this article to know what to do. Please forward to your friends and loved ones.
Be safe,
Jennifer
Pool drain accidents such as Usher’s son’s near-drowning incident can be prevented with proper safety measures
Source:
NY Daily News
8/8/2013
Usher's 5-year-old son survived a near-drowning incident involving a pool drain, but each year other kids aren't so lucky.
The 5-year-old Usher Raymond V nearly drowned when he became stuck to the bottom of a pool at his aunt's house. The suction created by the drains can trap children under the surface or catch limbs, in some cases causing serious injury or death.
"The force of a drain on a residential pool has a weight of at least 500 pounds," said Paul Pennington, founder and chairman of the Pool Safety Council, a non-profit advocacy group. "A parent can't lift 500 pounds off the ground."
An average of 390 children under 15 die each year from pool or spa-related submersion injuries, including drowning or near-drowning incidents, according to 2008-2010 statistics from the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission.
Forty-eight percent of injuries and 73% of fatalities involving kids under 15 occurred at a residence, not a public pool.
The Atlanta home where the incident occurred. Many older residential pools may not have the safety features required by law for public pools, or may not have been checked recently enough.
Pool drains were responsible for sending 39 people, mostly children, to the emergency room from 2008 to 2012. Their injuries ranged from bruising to fractured toes to rectal and intestinal prolapse caused by drain suction. Two girls, a 6-year-old and a 14-year-old, died.
In 2007, Virginia Graeme Baker, the 7-year-old granddaughter of former secretary of state James Baker, drowned after sitting on a hot tub drain and getting stuck. This prompted the Pool And Spa Safety Act, which called for public pools to replace flat drain covers with large, rounded covers that do not create suction. It also called for mechanical backup systems on single-drain pools that trigger a vacuum release if a person or object becomes caught in the drain.
But many older residential pools and hot tubs don't have the updates, and states vary in requiring the safety vacuum releases for new private pools, Pennington said.
Even the new, domed drain covers present a hazard if they're not checked regularly, as the screws holding them in place will come off or rust through.
If a pool drain is not properly covered, the force of suction can seal children to the drain or catch limbs. In the case of young Usher Raymond V, the boy became trapped by the drain's suction when he reached in to retrieve a toy.
That "should never have happened," Pennington said, adding that drain covers should be regularly checked and replaced by pool maintenance professionals.
Here are some additional tips for preventing this type of accident:
Get the proper safety features: Every residential pool should have up-to-date domed drain covers that are securely attached, plus a safety vacuum release system, Pennington said. There are also protectors that block the drain pipe underneath the cover so children's hands and feet won't get stuck inside.
Put a barrier around the pool: Hundreds of young children and toddlers die each year after falling into backyard pools. "Now they make very attractive safety fences that are about four feet high," Pennington said. "You can see through them, yet kids can't climb over them like a ladder."
If your child gets stuck to the drain: Don't try to lift him or her straight off the drain, Pennington said — the force of the suction makes that impossible. Instead, reach across the child, wedging your fingers between the drain and their body. Then peel or roll them off by pulling sideways.
tmiller@nydailynews.com
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