A Parent’s Guide to Home Water Safety: Risk Management Tips
10/12/2019 | Written by Nikos Vasilellis in Water Safety
For many parents, any thought of water related fatal accidents regarding their children within their homes, seems unlikely to happen to them. It is not, of course, that they don't care about their kids. On the contrary, they could be extremely protective of them and think that they have everything under their control. However, all parents or guardians shall be aware of the possible fatal water related accidents that can occur at home.
Below, you can find useful information and tips for diminishing the possibilities of possible water related risks and having them under control at all times.
Water Related Areas and Objected that Should be Supervised at Home
The first priority is to identify all the possible objects and areas of water related dangers. It is common sense to anyone that home swimming pools such as backyard pools, must be highly supervised at all time when children are near them.
But there are also other objects and areas that should be extensively supervised:
- Buckets
- Drains
- Bathtubs
- Fountains
- Inflatable pools
- Water tanks
- Eskies
- Fishponds
All the above items shall be either emptied and covered or put away and, definitely, not left at a place where they could be filled with water.
Additional Home Water Related Dangers for Children.
Maybe some of you reading this article, will lift your eyebrows and think that the above are exaggerated claims of danger. However, it would be useful to know that drowning deaths around the home have occurred at the pre-mentioned places. It shall be also pointed out that the other places around home environment where drownings have emerged are:
- Irrigation channels
- Spas
- Pet bowls
- Dams and rivers
- Creeks and streams
All parents and guardians, thus, shall never forget or neglect closing the bathroom door, emptying the bathtub as well as the buckets and storing them out of the reach of children.
When to be Alerted
Another extremely significant factor of the home water safety is the timing of the drowning deaths around the home. Relevant studies have shown that most such deaths have occurred in times of relatives visiting and during the preparation of evening meals. The same studies have shown that during such occasions the attention of parents is either divided or distracted. Therefore, parents should always be aware of the drowning risks, even in times when such scenarios seem out of the question.
Supervising Children During Social Events
A very common mistake that parents and guardians make when being at social gatherings, is to believe that somehow their children will be attended by someone else. Well, this is a serious misconception as it is more than possible that no one is supervising the children of others in such social events where people tend to be more relaxed.
In order to diminish any possible dangers, it would be a good idea to designate a person who would perform the role of child supervisor. If you want to be more “democratic”, that role could be rotated among different people in order to avoid possible complaints.
One last piece of advice: Don't drink alcohol while you supervise children. Any adult taking on this important responsibility of children’s supervision must be sober. They just need to be a little patient and when they will pass down their responsibility to another adult, then they can drink as much as they wish.
