April is swimming pool safety month in Florida – as proclaimed by Governor Charlie Crist. It’s a noteworthy designation. Drowning is the leading cause of accidental death of children under age five in the Sunshine State, as well as in California and Arizona.


The reason for the high number of drowning deaths is obvious – year ‘round pool use. There are an estimated one million swimming pools in Florida – many of those are in backyards. The Florida Swimming Pool Association has developed safety guidelines that are posted at its website - Floridapoolpro.com. Spokeswoman Wendy Parker says constant supervision tops the list.

“if there are kids in the a pool it’s good to designate a person as the pool watcher and then just trade off – if the phone rings get everybody out of the pool – don’t go inside – because above all watching your children at all times near any body of water is going to be the best prevention…”

Parker says the guidelines also include installing pool barriers – and – and putting alarms on doors and windows that open to the pool area. Battery operated alarms can also be installed in swimming pools – that are set off by lots of splashing. 65 percent of drowning deaths of young children in swimming pools happen at home

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Drowning is the leading cause of accidental death in children under the age of five in Florida, California and Arizona. Those numbers prompted Governor Charlie Crist to proclaim April “Swimming Pool Safety Month”. Wendy Parker of the Florida Swimming Pool Association says the best protection for children is constant supervision when they’re in the water. Barriers are also important.

“those would be a mesh fence put up around the pool, a safety cover that actually is an automatic cover that would prevent anyone from falling under – alarms on doors and windows that go to the pool area so that if a door was opened by anyone it would alert anyone in the home and a battery operated alarm in the pool as well.”

There are about a million swimming pools in Florida – most of those are in backyards. 65 percent of drowning deaths of young children in pools happen at the home of an immediate family member.