Most families enjoy having a pool, but they can be very dangerous for little kids with parents that aren’t always supervising them.

Last Saturday, a 4 years old kid died in Saint-Lambert from a pool accident and ,sadly, this type of accident often occur every year. As an example, since the beginning of 2022, there have already been 19 deaths from drowning and, in 2021, there were 81 deaths from drowning. It happens more often when it’s your own pool and not a public ones, because most of the public pools have lifeguards that are helping to supervise the kids. Some people prefer to not have a pool when they have young kids, because they don’t feel comfortable to have one with all the accidents that can happen, so they either wait until their kids become teenagers and are aware of the pool risks or they only go to public pools. 

Summer is here, a lot of families are going outside to play in a public pool or their own. Most parents take care of their children and supervise them all of the time when they are in the water, but a little moment of distraction can lead to big consequences.

The pool fence could be unlocked and the kids could manage to fall in it by accident. It could also be not even your pool, for example your kid throws a ball in the neighborhood pool and he falls in it trying to get it. A child who isn’t supervised even for 30 seconds can die from drowning, that’s why it is really important to supervise children especially the younger ones. 

If you have kids, you should be really careful with pools, you should watch them since they enter the water until they leave it, you should also have a barrier to avoid accidents. Having your kids doing swim lessons is also a good initiative. If your kids don’t know how to swim or can’t reach the bottom of the pool with their feet, you also must be in it with them. A good thing is new regulations for fence will take effect this summer. 

Consider visiting these resources for additional information and safety: 

Votre piscine sera-t-elle conforme aux normes? | Actualités juridiques | Éducaloi (educaloi.qc.ca)

Accueil | Baignade parfaite – Société de sauvetage