Water-Safety 101: Basic Guidelines

Each year, thousands of Americans are injured or killed in boating and swimming accidents. You can protect yourself and your family from such accidents by following these guidelines.

• Check weather and water conditions before leaving shore.
• Don't drink and boat. Alcohol is a factor in many boating accidents. Choose a designated boat driver who will not drink.
• Insist that everyone wear a Coast Guard-approved personal flotation device or life jacket while on board.
• Always tell someone where you'll be boating, when you expect to be back, and what your boat looks like.
• Keep Coast Guard-approved visual distress devices, such as pyrotechnic red flares, orange distress flags, or lights on board.
• Don't carry more passengers than the maximum listed on the boat's capacity plate.

Here's how to keep your family safe:

• Enclose your pool with a four-sided fence, wall, or other barrier at least 4 feet tall. Install self-latching gates that open outward.
• Don't assume your child can swim. Many children forget how to swim when panicked.
• Keep a portable phone in the pool area. Program emergency contacts on its speed dial.
• Keep a close eye on children and nonswimmers who are using inflatable toys, inner tubes, and mattresses. They could slide off them and drown.
• Closely supervise children when they are diving or jumping in the pool. Head and back injuries are likely to occur during these activities. Do not allow anyone to dive head-first into a pool unless there is a clearly marked safe-diving area.
• Make sure everyone stays away from drains and other pool openings. They can create strong suction that can trap swimmers, especially children.
• Keep the pool's deck area clear of tripping hazards like toys, dishes, and hoses.
• Review safety measures and rules with guests before they swim.

• Never leave a young child alone in a bathtub, wading pool, swimming pool, lake, or river. If you must answer the phone or get a towel, take the child with you.
• Be aware of backyard pools in your neighborhood or apartment building. Your child could wander off and fall in.
• Enroll children in swimming lessons taught by qualified instructors. But remember, the lessons won't make children "drown-proof."
• Teach your older children that they risk drowning when they overestimate their swimming ability or underestimate water depth.

• Take swimming lessons from a qualified instructor if you're not a strong, competent swimmer.
• Don't swim if you've been drinking alcohol.
• Don't swim alone or let others do so.
• Stay out of the water during thunderstorms and other severe weather. During lightning storms, find shelter away from metal objects, open areas, and large, lone trees.
• Don't exceed your swimming ability. Know your limits and stick to them.
• Check the water level before diving into a pool, ocean, pond, reservoir, or lake. Always dive with your arms extended firmly over your head and your hands together.
• Don't dive into unknown bodies of water, like lakes, rivers, quarries, or irrigation ditches. Jump feet first to prevent hitting your head (and breaking your neck or back) on a shallow bottom, hidden rock, or other obstruction.