Water and outdoor safety is for everyone at work and at home. Follow these water safety rules from ORR Safety to protect your co-workers, your family and yourself!
Learn to swim well. Almost two million people of all ages learn to swim each year with Red Cross programs.
Weak or inexperienced swimmers should wear U. S. Coast Guard-approved life jackets anytime they're around water.
Know how to respond to an emergency (including lifesaving CPR skills), how to tell if a swimmer is in distress or is drowning, and how and when to call for emergency help. Be sure to have a first aid kit, cordless phone and emergency contact information within easy reach.
The workplace is or should be equipped with water rescue equipment. Do the same for your home. If you have a pool or hot tub, keep lifesaving gear handy. Always have on hand a ring buoy, life jackets, rope, pole or other object that can be used to help a person in trouble.
Protect our kids! 18 tips you can take home with you today:
- Always closely supervise children whenever they are near any body of water
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Teach children water safety and swimming skills as early as possible.
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Always brief babysitters on water safety, emphasizing the need for constant supervision.
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Appoint a “designated watcher” to monitor children during social gatherings at or near pools.
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Equip doors and windows that exit to a pool area with alarms.
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Install a poolside phone, preferably a cordless model, with emergency numbers programmed into speed-dial.
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Post CPR instructions and learn the procedures.
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Keep rescue equipment poolside. Don’t wait for the paramedics to arrive because you will lose valuable life-saving seconds. Four to six minutes without oxygen can cause permanent brain damage or death.
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Keep a first aid kit at poolside. Part #: CSMK401030
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Install four-sided isolation fencing, at least five feet high, equipped with self-closing and self-latching gates, that completely surrounds the pool and prevents direct access from the house and yard.
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Maintain constant visual contact with children in a pool or pool area. If a child is missing, check the pool first; seconds count in preventing death or disability.
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Don’t use flotation devices as a substitute for supervision. Never allow a young child in a pool without an adult.
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Don’t leave objects such as toys that might attract a child in the pool and pool area.
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Never prop the gate to a pool area open.
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Don’t rely on swimming lessons, life preservers, or other equipment to make a child “water safe.”
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Never assume someone else is watching a child in a pool area.
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Don’t leave chairs or other items of furniture where a child could use them to climb into a fenced pool area.
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Don’t think you’ll hear a child who’s in trouble in the water; child drowning is a silent death, with no splashing to alert anyone that the child is in trouble.
Find more tips for pool & spa owners at poolsafely.gov.
Contact your local Red Cross chapter for more information on learning to swim, water safety, home pool safety, first aid and CPR classes.
For more information on how to stay safe in the water this summer, visit www.redcross.org.
