Why are we still hearing about Babies Drowning in Pools?

Open the news each week and it seems another baby or toddler has drowned in a backyard pool. Some victims are lucky and have a near miss which often makes the news as well.

The latest victim to drowning happened yesterday. A 14-month-old girl from Port Stephens was found unconscious in the pool. Despite CPR attempts from a family member and police who arrived on the scene before paramedics, the baby girl died at John Hunter Hospital on arrival.

The drowning is awful news for the family and it ripples through the community as parents and authorities wonder what else can be done to keep our young children safe from pools?

A week ago, toddler Aria Dunn died after the 20-month-old was pulled from a pool on Sunday afternoon at around 4pm. The toddler had been inside the home with her family when she slipped outside unnoticed and was able to get through the gated pool area.

No matter how stringent pool laws have become, we are still hearing of young children drowning in pools.

The Children’s Hospital in Westmead have treated 25 children from near-drowning incidents compared with 32 last year.

The weekly news of another child losing their life to drowning is a wake-up call for parents to be vigilant about pool safety. It doesn’t matter if a pool passes certification, supervision and ensuring the pool gate is closed at all times is a matter of urgency for all parents to take responsibility for.

Acting Superintendent Michael Rochester has urged parents to be conscious of water safety.

“The warning remains constant throughout the year that you can never be too vigilant with children around water,” he said.

The biggest concern with the recent drownings is the lack of supervision by parents when their children are inside the home.

Most parents supervise their children when they are swimming in the pool, but what happens when the child heads to the pool, and no one knows they’ve escaped outside?

You hope like hell the gate has been latched and there is no furniture that can be moved and used to climb over the pool fence.

Another concern is the emergence of inflatable pools. Any pools that hold water to a depth of up to 300mm, cannot hold more than 2000 litres of water and do not have a filtration system are not required to be fenced. But adequate supervision must be used at all times when children play in them. Children can drown in less than 6cm of water.

With Christmas less than a week away, the pool is going to be a welcome reprise for many. Let’s ensure pool safety is a priority this summer to ensure we don’t hear more tragic drownings like the one that happened yesterday.